Domestic Violence Counseling

Domestic Violence Counseling

Definition

Domestic violence can be defined as any domestic partner or interfamilial altercation that involves emotional, psychological, verbal, or physical abuse. The abuse may be sufficient to warrant the involvement of law enforcement officials, but this definition includes acts, that are not illegal, such as verbal abuse. There is no crime labeled domestic violence; rather, the crimes committed defined legally as domestic violence include assault, assault and battery, rape, stalking, aggravated assault, and assault with a dangerous/deadly weapon. Violence is defined by Webster's Dictionary Riverside as a physical force employed so as to damage or injury, such as violent acts (Anderson, 2006).

Domestic violence can be defined as the physical, sexual or emotional that happens in a house or a family member to another. All forms of physical, psychological or sexual concerns both those who have, have had or intended to have an intimate relationship of torque, as individuals within a family have more or less extended relationships of a parental or affective is domestic violence. Domestic violence occurs across all lines of race, gender, culture, nationality, sexual orientation, social class and age. Domestic violence is a crime when a person:

Knowingly causes or attempts to cause physical injury to a family or household member

Recklessly causes serious physical harm to a family or household member

By threat of force, knowingly cause a family or household member to believe that the offender will cause imminent physical harm (Fountain, 2006).

Population is women and children

Law enforcement reports indicate that the most frequent act of domestic violence is the battery of women. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury and death for women in the United States, and close to two in five women has reported being victims of physical or sexual assault in their lifetimes. In 1999 domestic violence caused 32 percent of the homicides in women (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence [NCADV]). Women between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four have experienced the highest rate of domestic violence—sixteen of every 1,000 women (NCADV). Seventy percent of the teenage and college age women who report being raped say the assault occurred during the course of a date (NCADV) (Letellier, 2004).

Child abuse accounts for the leading cause of death in children, usually at the hands of one or both parents. In 2002 approximately, 1,400 children died as a result of abuse or neglect, and nearly 900,000 children were found to be victims of abuse or neglect across the United States (National Center for Victims of Crime [NCVC]). Abuse of the elderly is a prevalent form of domestic violence. Neglect is the most common type of this abuse with physical and/or financial exploitation being the goal(s). Women are the majority of the victims; however, offenders are equally likely to be male or female.

The majority of abusers are men and most victims are women. Serious acts of violence are committed mostly by men against women and children. However, men are also victims of violence in intimate relationships. The rate of violence is significantly lower ...