domestic violence Flashcards
What is domestic violence?
Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.’
Physical abuse
Sexual abuse
Emotional abuse
Financial abuse
What are the two main reasons for the dark side of the family?
child abuse and domestic violence.
According to sociologists:
Causes of domestic violence are not psychological they are social!
Why do sociologists argue that domestic abuse is social not psychological?
Domestic violence is too widespread to be seen as a psychological problem located with the individual, it therefore must have a social cause.
Women’s federation (2014) argue that domestic violence accounts for nearly 25% of all reported violent crime.
Crime survey (2013) – 2 million people reported being victims on domestic violence during the previous year.
Domestic violence does not occur randomly but fallows particular patterns and causes. The most striking pattern is that it is mainly violence by men against women.
Coleman et al (2007) - women are more likely than men to experience intimate violence across all 4 types of abuse.
Coleman and Osborne (2010) - 1 third of all female homicide victims are killed by their partner or former partner. 2 women a week are killed by domestic violence.
Coleman et al
Coleman et al (2007) - women are more likely than men to experience intimate violence across all 4 types of abuse.
Coleman and Osborne (2010) - 1 third of all female homicide victims are killed by their partner or former partner. 2 women a week are killed by domestic violence.
Women’s federation (2014)
argue that domestic violence accounts for nearly 25% of all reported violent crime.
Crime survey:
Crime survey (2013) – 2 million people reported being victims on domestic violence during the previous year.
What do official statistics show?
Domestic violence affects 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men.
Accounts for 16-25% of all violent crimes and has more repeat victims than any other crime.
93% of all incidents against women are committed by men
Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales alone
What is the problem with official statistics?
Official statistics are socially constructed. Official statistics on domestic violence underestimate the true extent of the problem.
Victims may be unwilling to report it to the police.
Yearnshire (1997) found that a woman suffers 35 assaults before making a report.
Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute cases that are reported to them…
Domestic abuse is a largely invisible crime, occurring mainly behind closed doors. It is often difficult to measure it accurately and women are often reluctant or afraid to report it to the police. Many women whose experiences of domestic abuse are confined to psychological or coercive abuse may not even define themselves as “abused women” since there is little education about what non-violent abuse consists of.
Hidden figure of crime
dark(orhidden)figure of crimeis a term employed bysociologiststo describe the amount of unreported or undiscovered crime which impacts the validity of official statistics.
This is particularly important when it comes to the official statistics regarding domestic violence, as it often not reported, or not prosecuted by social agents of control i.e. the police.
Why may the police be reluctant to prosecute?
This is because these institutions make three assumptions about family life:
The family is a private sphere , so access to it by state agencies should be limited
Family is a good thing, so agencies tend to neglect the ‘darker side’ of family life
Individuals are free agents, so they assume that a woman who is experiencing abuse is free to leave.
What are the two explanations for domestic violence?
The radical feminist explanations – this emphasises the role of patriarchal ideas, cultural values and institutions.
The materialist explanations – this emphasises economic factors such as lack of resources.
The radical feminist explanation for domestic violence?
Radical feminists such as Millett (1970) and Firestone (1970) argue that all societies have been founded upon patriarchy. Men are the oppressors and exploiters of women, and therefore domestic violence is inevitable, and inevitably carried out by men.
For example, it was only in 1991 that rape within marriagemade officially illegal. This demonstrates how patriarchal society is!
Furthermore, in their view, male domination of state institutions helps to explain the reluctance of the police and courts to deal effectively with cases of domestic violence.
Evaluation of the radical feminist explanation of domestic violence
Elliot (1996) rejects the radical feminists claim that all men benefit from violence against women.
Not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence.
Women commit domestic violence
Men are victims too
In 2013, 18% of men (nearly 3 million) had experienced domestic violence since the age of 16 (Crime survey 2013).
As well as this, RF wrongly assume that all women are equally as risk of domestic violence.
Evidence from official statistics suggest that women from certain social groups face a greater risk of domestic violence.
i.e. deprived, social class, young
The materialist explanation for DV?
They focus on economic and material factors such as inequalities in income and housing to explain why some groups are more at risk than others of domestic violence.
Worries about money, jobs and housing may spill over into domestic conflict as tempers become frayed.
Lack of money and time restricts people’s social circle and reduces social support for those under stress.
Wilkinson and Pickett (2010)
Explain how social inequality affects families in terms of domestic violence
Domestic violence is a result of stress on family members caused by social inequality and poverty.
The stress caused by poverty causes conflicts and violence rather than stability and care in the family.
They show that not all people are exposed in the same amount to the risk of suffering of domestic violence, but there is inequality caused by status, income and power, those with less of these are often at greatest risk.
Evaluation :
They do not explain why women rather than men are the main victims.
