Heavy Hands

Heavy Hands

Introduction

Heavy Hands is the first book to explore--in one volume--the causes, consequences, and prevalence of domestic violence and the positive law enforcement response. Using a socio-legal approach--with emphasis on the practical criminal justice perspective--it offers a contemporary view of the criminal justice experience with diverse forms of domestic violence and populations: violence against women; dating violence; sibling abuse; rape and incest; child and elder abuse and neglect; male battering; lesbian and gay violence; specific issues affecting African Americans and American Indians. Balanced and thorough, it exposes the myths about both victims and offenders, showing how women and men, the elderly and children, heterosexuals and homosexuals all can be perpetrators and victims as well.

Review

Domestic violence is defined as the physical or emotional abuse of an adult or child by a family member or friend. Physical abuse includes pushing, slapping, or grabbing, throwing objects, kicking, biting or punching, beating up, raping or sexually exploiting an adult or child and/or threatening with a weapon. Emotional abuse includes name calling, making jokes that are demeaning, and verbally threatening physical abuse, isolating or unreasonably confining an adult or child, and/or the repeated humiliation of an adult or child (Woman Aware [Brochure].

A person of any age or sex may be a victim of domestic violence. However, according to statistics, the majority of victims are women, children, and the dependent elderly (Woman Aware [Brochure]). Additionally, although there are many reported instances and services available to men who are victims and to those in gay, lesbian, and bisexual relationships, this paper will focus on the majority; that is the male perpetrator and the woman victim.

Psychoanalytic Theory stems from the belief that individual personality traits which develop early in life, predicts the probability that a person will be a victim of or submit to violence. These ...