Intimate Partner Violence

1
Intimate Partner Violence

• Against By Women

2
Violence Against Women

• Historically approved of through law and societal
  bias.
• Considered a private matter.

3
3 Dominant Explanations

• Psychological
• Sociological
• Legalistic

4
Psychological Explanation

• Social learning and modeling
• Marital role expectations
• Patriarchy - male dominance is the natural order
  of things in the family and in the public spheres

5
Sociological Explanation

• Social stress factors lead to violence
• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Drinking and drugs
• Isolation

6
Legal Perspective

• Control and punishment are necessary in a
  civilized society
• Arrest of family lawbreakers is a deterrent to
  future intimate partner violence

7
Historical Perspective

• Patriarchy - dominant social arrangement since
  recorded history
• Greek word for father as ruler
• Wives and children were considered property
• Role of woman was to bear children and run
  household

8
Historical Perspective

• Under Roman law women, children and slaves could
  bought and sold
• Women had no legal status
• They could not appear in court as complainant
• Transgression against a woman was an offense
  against her father or husband

9
Christian Era

• Subordination of wives
• Scriptures commanded that women be silent,
  obedient, accept their husbands authority

10
Ephesians 522-24

• Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands,
  as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of
  the wife, even as Christ is head of the Church
  and he is saviour of the body.
• Therefore , as the church is subject unto Christ,
  so let the wives be to their own husbands in
  everything.

11
Common Law in England

• Women were no longer viewed as property
• But when married two people become one - socially
  and legally

12
English Common Law

• Earliest case of partner violence heard in court
  - 1395.
• Wife was attacked with dagger - she had wounds
  broken bones.
• Court not grounds for separation
• Ordered wife to return to live with husband.

13
Rule of Thumb

• Husband had the right to beat his wife
• As long as the stick was no thicker than his thumb

14
Colonial America
Wives in 17th Century

• No rule of thumb
• But Puritans were first in world to prohibit
  intimate partner violence through legislation
• 1640-1680 laws against wife beating
• Enforcement holy watching by neighbors
• Punishment for beating fines whipping

• Obedience subservience to husband
• Could not own or acquire property
• Could not enter into a contract or write a will
  unless husband signed a contract prior to
  marriage
• Could not sue in her own name
• Only her husband could pursue a wrong committed
  against her

15
Wives in the 17th Century

• Obedience subservience to husband
• Could not own or acquire property
• Could not enter into a contract or write a will
  unless husband signed a contract prior to
  marriage
• Could not sue in her own name
• Only her husband could pursue a wrong committed
  against her

16
Reform Didnt Last Long

• Law condoned physical violence against women as
  long as it was reasonable

17
Bradley v. State (1824)

• Court confirmed right of husband to inflict pain
  and physically correct his wife
• Question Could husband chastise his wife?
• Court Yes

18
Reform Movement 1874-1890

• Some attempts to help battered women
• Response to victims was judgmental and
  prejudicial

19
1838 - Mass. Allows Divorce

• 1841 Polly Pidge v Palemon Pidge
• Gross negligence and extreme cruelty were NOT
  among the enumerated causes to obtain divorce

20
Sigmund Freud of Austria - 1887

• Published his seduction theory
• Claimed that the majority of women suffering from
  mental illness and hysteria were experiencing
  effects of intra-family rape and sexual abuse
• In 1890 he recanted his theory
• In the 1940s victim precipitation became
  explanation for intra-family violence.

21
Battered Womens Movement 1970s

• Battered womens shelters opened
• Safe refuge for abused
• Criminalization of intimate partner violence

22
Intimate Partner Violence

• Intentional abuse among
• Married and previously married persons
• People who live together as husband and ife
• People who have a child together
• Partners of same-sex relationships
• Partners in long-term dating relaitonships

23
Pattern of abuse

• Physical
• Emotional
• Psychological

24
Abusive Behaviors

• Verbal
• Emotional
• Sexual
• Psychological
• Economic

25
Tactics

• Hitting
• Kicking
• Punching
• Preventing access to finances
• Threatening to take children away
• Destroying property

26
Tactics

• Harming pets
• Berating
• Threatening violence
• Restricting access to family and friends
• Accusations of infiedelity
• Forcing partner to do sexual things she doesnt
  want to do
• Harming children as punishment to ones partner

27
Prevalence

• National Crime Victimization Survey
• National Family Violence Survey
• Violent crimes against partners have declined
  from 1.1 m to 494,570
• (1993-2002)

28
NCVS

• 85 is men against women
• More than one attack a year
• 2 million annual injuries
• 550,000 require medical attention
• Victimization rates overall going down since 1993
  and appear to be stabilized

29
NFVS

• Suggests women are more violent than men in
  family assaults
• Equal in minor violence - pushing, grabbing,
  spanking, throwing things
• In severe violence (kick, bite, hit with fist,
  hit or try to hit something, beat up, threaten
  with knife or gun, use knife or gun) more men
  were victimized than women.

30
Married Couple Violence - NFVS

• 1.8 million women were victims of severe violence
• 2 million male victims

31
Prevalence of Violence by Intimates

• Analysis of data suggests that the seriousness of
  acts reported is about equal for men and women
• But a significantly higher number of women
  received injuries than men, husbands were more
  likely to use severely violent tactics and less
  likely to be injured

32
NCVS Data

• Separated women are victimized by intimates at
  highest rate
• Women aged 16-24 highest rate of intimate
  violence except for murder
• Women aged 35-49 most vulnerable to intimate
  partner murder
• 128,550 men victimized by women each year between
  93 and 99

33
Professional Women as Victims

• Not immune
• Active-duty military 22 of women have been
  physically or sexually assaulted, 36 some type
  of abuse
• No reason to believe that police are less
  inclined to perpetrate family violence
• Old studies suggest is is higher for police but
  prosecution seldom pursued

34
Minority Victims

• Contradicatory findings
• Some say higher rate for minorities
• 1/3 v 1/4 of white women
• Highest rate of cases that are dropped prior to
  prosecution
• Distrust of cj system, cultural differences,
  experiences and needs differ

35
Effects of Partner Violence

• See p. 179

36
Responses to Partner Violence

• Shelter movement
• Hotline and advocacy services
• Counseling programs for men who batter
• Criminalization of domestic violence
• Mandated arrest practices
• Protection orders