Domestic Violence

Introduction

Certain forms of violence have been seen historically as punishable wrongs against society as well as against individual victims. Domestic violence against women, however, even when it entails rape and murder, until recently, has been treated as a private matter to be dealt with by “family government.” Family government has been traditionally controlled by men, generally the authors of domestic violence. Indeed, in countries like Brazil, a husband can still preserve his “honor” by murdering his unfaithful wife. Domestic violence in many industrially advanced countries, including the United States, has assumed epidemic proportions (Watson, p. 1-225).

Problem Statement

Domestic violence does not only affect physical and mental health of the victim, but, adversely affects the upbringing of children, as well.

Aims and Objectives

The aim and objective of this research is to discuss the impact of domestic violence on the victim and children and to prepare an agenda, which can help to reduce violence caused by an imbalance of power. The main objectives of this research are:

Discuss the impact of domestic violence on children and the victim and why it is a serious problem.

Develop an action plan to reduce human suffering caused by domestic violence.Identify the potential risks of not implementing the action plan.

How domestic violence is being addressed in the workplace.

Discussion and Analysis

Domestic violence is about control. It is a pattern of coercive behavior that may include physical, sexual, economic, emotional, and psychological abuse of one family member, roommate or significant partner by another person. In a criminal context, domestic violence is best defined as knowingly causing, attempting to cause, or threatening to cause physical harm to a family or household member. If a family or household member repeatedly uses physical force (hitting, slapping, etc.), if they threaten harm to a victim or a victim's children, if they threaten suicide, if they withhold money or food, if they demean the victim, if they force the victim to have sex, if they keep the victim from seeing friends or family then they have perpetrated the crime of domestic violence (Walby, p. 1-46).

Domestic violence is prevalent in the United States, and its victims are mostly women. Statistics indicate that a woman is beaten every 15 seconds, that 90-95% of domestic violence victims are female, and that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44, more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined. Moreover, fifty percent of all homeless women and children are on the streets because of violence in the home. Battery tends to be the pattern of violence; in fact, during the six months following a reported incident, 32% of battered women are victimized again. To make matters worse, about half of all the men who abuse women also abuse children and women who leave their batters are at a 75% greater risk of being killed than those who stay. Clearly, domestic violence is common and particularly dangerous for women and children.

Population Victims

Most victims are women, and annually, compared to males, they experience ...