couples (domestic violence)

Question 1

what is domestic violence?

Answer 1

any incident of pattern of incidents of controlling/ cohesive/ threatening behaviour, violence of abuse between those aged 16 or over who are/ have been partners of family members.

Question 2

what are the patterns of domestic violence? (statistics)

Answer 2

too widespread to be the work of a few individuals. Not random occurrence- mainly men against women.
Women’s Aid Federation- domestic violence counts for between 1/6 and 1/4 of all violent crime.
2013 crime survey for England and Wales- found 2 million people reported having been victims of domestic abuse during the year.

Question 3

Kathryn Coleman et al

Answer 3

found women were more likely to have experiences ‘intimate violence’ across all 4 types of abuse (partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault, stalking)

Question 4

Coleman and Osbourne

Answer 4

2 women a week or 1/3 of all female homicidal victims are killed by a partner of former partner

Question 5

Russel and Rebecca Dobash study

Answer 5

Based on police and court records in Scotland of interviews with women in women’s refuges. found violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority. Argue that marriage legitimises violence against women.

Question 6

Yearnshire

Answer 6

on average, a woman suffers 35 assaults before making a report

Question 7

Dar

Answer 7

argues victims of domestic violence are less likely to report then victims of other violence as they believe it is not a matter for police due to trivial nature

Question 8

Cheal

Answer 8

reluctance of police and prosecutors to record investigate and prosecute cases of DV is because the police and other state agencies are not prepared to be involved in the family.

Question 9

during 2006- 2011 conviction rates

Answer 9

6.5% of incidents reported to the police were convicted

Question 10

What is the radical feminist explanation of domestic violence

Answer 10

Emphasises the role of patriarchal ideas, cultural values, and institutions.
see the family and marriage as key institutions in patriarchal society. Men dominate the family through the threat of domestic violence.
Widespread DV is inevitable as a feature of patriarchal society, serving to preserve the power of all men over women, explaining why most DV is committed by men.
Male domination of state institutions helps to explain the reluctance of the police and courts to effectively deal with cases of DV.

Question 11

Millett and Firestone

Answer 11

argue all societies have been founded on patriarchy, seeing the key division in the family as that between men and women as men are seen as the enemy- the oppressors and exploiters of women

Question 12

What is the materialist explanation of domestic violence

Answer 12

Focus on the inequality of income and housing to explain why some groups are more in danger of domestic violence

Question 13

Wilkinson and Pickett

Answer 13

see DV as a result of strain on family members caused by social inequality, meaning some families have fewer resources than others. Those on low incomes who are living in crowded accommodation are likely to experience higher levels of stress, reducing the chances of maintaining a stable, caring relationship, increasing the risk of conflict and violence.