Running head: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 1

Domestic Violence: A Review of Literature

Lesley Macias

University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1302 - 24467

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Abstract

Domestic Violence is a common issue in the United States that with the passage of the years has

being raising. Information about domestic violence is placed all over the place but it becomes so

common that most of the times it does not have the attention it requires. The importance of

people having a strong understanding on what domestic violence involves, how the issue affects

different people and the different laws and organizations that exist to help in these situations are

the main purpose for this review on literature. A survey conducted by the author and research

about this topic will contribute to achieve the purpose of this paper to help people to understand

everything that domestic violence implies and its importance as an issue that is every day more

present in the lives of the United States population.

Keywords: Domestic Violence, United States, Deaths, issue.

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Domestic Violence: A Review of Literature

Domestic violence is a rising and common problem in the United States and that is the

reason why research about this topic has increased as well as the issue. The different researches,

advertises, and campaigns have as main purpose to create awareness and understanding about

domestic violence and everything that is involved in the development of the issue. The National

Statistics Domestic Violence Fact Sheet says that in one year approximately more than 10

million women and men suffer of physical abuse from their intimate partner.

Despite domestic violence is a common topic to talk about, there still people that do not

fully understand all the different aspects that domestic violence involved and the different ways

in which it could be represented. Also, the existing laws and organizations that give help and

protection to victims that suffer from domestic violence and their functions, are not well known

as well. That is why to have a deeper and stronger understanding of the issue three questions

have to be considered:

1. What is domestic violence and what does it involves?

2. How does domestic violence affect men, women, and children in the United

States?

3. What laws or organizations that work to eliminate domestic violence or

support those hurt by it?

The following literature review will provide information explaining what domestic

violence involves, discuss the different ways in which the issue affects not only women but

children and men in the United States, and the different existing laws or organizations working to

support or eliminate domestic violence.

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What is Domestic Violence and what does it involves?

According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEVD), domestic

violence is any kind of abuse, either physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, and also

financial abuse that involves the use of money or other financial tools to exert control against

someone (2010). Domestic violence is an important crime because most of the times it can turn

to be life-threatening to the victim that is experiencing it. In the Extent, Nature, and

Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence by P. Tjaden and N. Thoennes, they say that cases of

domestic violence are always inflicted by “current and former dates, spouses, and cohabiting

partners,” (July 2000, page 16). This evidence showing that the people that has all the trust and

love of the victim is who inflicts the damage. Domestic violence affects millions of people across

the United States regardless of age, education, religion, race and economic status, meaning that

everyone is exposed to be a victim of domestic violence. Figure 1 shows an online survey

conducted by the author to get a perception of how many people knew someone that was in a

domestic violence situation. Thirty participants from different demographics were ask about this.

The results showed that 45% or 13 participants knew someone that was in the situation. While

the other 55% does not knew anyone that went through any type of domestic violence.

Figure 1. Chart depicting

Do you know someone that was in a
survey responses to the situation of Domestic Violence?
question: “Do you know

someone that was in a 43%

57%
situation of Domestic

Violence?”

yes No
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There are different categories of domestic violence. Physical abuse, emotional abuse,

sexual abuse, and Financial abuse. Each one of them has specific characteristics and ways to be

identify. According to The Criminal Justice Research by the U.S Department of Justice (2000),

characteristics of physical abuse are the use of force that results in body injury, physical pain, or

impairment, and it can be recognized because most of the cases it lefts internal or external signs.

Some examples of external signs are bite marks, bleeding, bruises, burns, crying, marks, missing

or pulled hair, ripped clothing. These being just some examples of the different ways and sings

that a victim of domestic violence can show. In the other hand, bone fractures, broken bones,

dislocations, internal bleeding, and sprains are some examples of internal injuries. The internal

and External signs are a result of this type of abuse that is presented through beatings, biting,

hitting, kicking, pulling of hair, punching, slapping, strangulation, throwing things, just for give

some examples.

The emotional abuse is defined as the “willful infliction of emotional anguish by threat,

humiliation, intimidation, or other abusive conduct.” (U.S Department of Justice, 2000). This

type of abuse most of the times comes before the physical abuse is presented. Emotional abuse is

linked with the psychological because both of their consequences and the way of hurt the victim

do not include something physical. Clear examples of this type of abuse are name-calling, being

treated like a child, and abusive verbal attacks. Usually, victims of emotional abuse isolate

themselves of people. Emotional abuse can be present in all the other forms of abuse.

Sexual abuse is defined as the “nonconsensual sexual contact of any kind; examples

include indecent touching or fondling, … by an intimate partner, and marital rape.” (U.S

Department of Justice, 2000). Any gender can be victimized sexually, but usually women are the

most common victims of sexual abuse. Just as the Physical violence, sexual abuse also has two
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different categories of signs: intern, and emotional or psychological. The intern or physical signs

are injuries to any part of the body, torn muscles, broken bones, bloody noses, bleeding,

lacerations, or pain to the genitals, mouth or breasts. The emotional or psychological signs can

include intense fear, anxiety, or mistrust of the intimate partner. Also, another indicator of sexual

abuse can be depression without an obvious reason, and suicide attempts. In the report Co-

Occurring Intimate Partner Violence and Child Maltreatment: Local Policies/Practices and

Relationships to Child Placement, Family Services and Residence (2006) by K. Keller, W.

Gardner, at All, they show that “3 in 10 women (29%) and 1 in 10 men (10%) in the US have

experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by a partner”. With this, they give evidence

that sexual abuse is present in domestic violence situations and even though is more common in

women, also can happen to men. All of the different examples that domestic violence have its

own importance and either of them is more important than the other because all of them inflict

damage in its own way to the victim.

Financial abuse is defined as the illegal or improper use of funds, property, or assets by

the intimate partner that is inflicting the damage to force or exert power to the victim. The

aggressor controls all the financial matters of the victim with the purpose of make them feel

defenseless and that they depend totally of the aggressors, so the victim does not think about

leaving them or looking for help. Also, they use this to calm the victims after they are being

overwhelm with other form of violence, usually physical or psychological. This type of violence

give the victim a feeling of dependence and insecurity about themselves and their ability of

administrate their own financial matters.

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How does domestic violence affect men, women, and children in the United States?

Domestic violence affects not only to the person that is being the victim of the situation

but also to the children that are living and witnessing the issue. On the other hand, women are

not the only ones to suffer or are victims of domestic violence, men, also can be victims of these

issue. Men and women are affected in the same ways. Regardless the gender, if someone is being

a victim of domestic violence can present change in their behaviors, post- traumatic stress

disorder, depression, and anxiety, or in other cases show different signs depending of the type of

abuse that they are living. The reason because women is believed to be more commonly a victim

of domestic violence according to the extent of Tjaden is because “women are significantly more

likely than men to report being victimized by an intimate partner” (July 2000, page 17). One

reason of men avoiding to report domestic violence situations in which there are the victim is

because they are supposed to be the strong gender according to the society stereotypes and they,

just like many women, keep their situation as a secret because embarrassment. The National

Domestic Violence Hotline says that even though its true that most of the victims of domestic

violence are women, men are not exempt to experience a situation of violence (2012). Also,

studies showed that men assaulted by their partners are often ignored by the police discouraging

male victims to seek for help in these situations and forcing them to keep living in violence.

Figure 2 illustrates a survey conducted online to determine the perspective of people about men

being victims of domestic violence. 30 participants were asked about their thoughts of men

facing domestic violence situations just like women. The results are showed in Figure 2:

Figure 2. Survey response to the question: “Do you think that men, as well as women, can suffer

from a domestic violence situation?”

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Do you think that men, as well as women, can

suffer from domestin violence situations?
0% 3%

yes
No
Not sure

97%

The results of the survey show that the majority of the participants agree about men as victims of

domestic violence just as women. Even though evidence of different studies and surveys state

that men are victims of domestic violence as well as women, evidence also exist supporting that

women are the most common victims of this issue. But the difference is the support that they

receive and that because of this support every day they are more open to seek for help.

Meanwhile, children that are not necessarily being abuse for anyone in their homes but

live in a hostile environment where they are witnesses of violence, affect children too. In The

Effects of Domestic Violence on Children by Lundy Bancroft states that “3-4 million children

between the ages of 3-17 are at risk of exposure to domestic violence each year.” (2004). And

according to the U.S. statistics, 95% of domestic violence cases involve the women as a victim

of their male partner, meaning that the majority of these children are witnesses of their mother as

a victim of domestic violence. Children can be visual witnesses that mean that they can actually

see incidents of physical and/or sexual abuse, see the different physical signs like bruises, blood,

tears, and broken items. Another way that children can be witnesses is by hearing fight noises,

crying, screams, or others. Finally, they can be aware of the situation in their house, the fear of
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the parent that is being a victim or the constant never-ending fights. Children that are exposed to

physical abuse become fearful, anxious, and they may feel worthless and powerless (L. Bancroft,

2004). Feelings rage, embarrassment, and humiliation for living in the situations that they life are

common in children from abusive homes too. They tend to isolate themselves because they are

asked to keep the situation at home as a secret and they feel vulnerable. These kids may develop

really serious psychological and emotional damage (L. Bancroft, 2004). Children that grow up in

homes with domestic violence situations in which their fathers abuse from their mothers grow up

thinking that it is fine to use violence to solve all the situations. Boys can grow up thinking that

use violence against the women it is fine and using it in their future relationships, and in the

other hand, girls may grow up thinking that have relationships with violence is not something

wrong. Finally, another long-term effect that these kids face is the risk of substance abuse, post

traumatic stress disorder just as the victim, and juvenile delinquency (L. Bancroft, 2004).

What laws or organizations that work to eliminate domestic violence or support

those hurt by it?

In the United States domestic violence is a serious issue and the government have

organizations and places where the victims can go if they need help or just for people who want

to know more about the different signs of a violent relationship or characteristics of abusers and

victims. Some of the resources available for victims of domestic violence are: the National

Network to End Domestic Violence a website that offers important safety tips and resources, the

U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline provides confidential and anonymous support by

phone the 24 hours of the day, the Domestic violence Awareness website offers resources and the

name of different shelter houses for survivors of domestic violence, the purplepurse.com is an

all-state foundation that has resources to end the financial abuse, and these are just some of the
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many organizations or places in which people can find information for themselves or to help

someone in this situations. Figure 3 illustrates a survey that was conducted online to see how

much people was aware about the different sources and places in the United States to help

victims of domestic violence. 30 participants were asked if they knew any organization that

helped domestic violence victims. The results are showed in Figure 3:

Figure 3. Chart depicting survey responses to the question: “Do you know organizations in the

United States that offer help or support for domestic violence victims?”

Do you know organizations in the United

States that offer help or support for domestic
violence victims?

yes
37%
No

63%

The responses to the survey showed that most of the people do not know the resources and

organizations available for domestic violence situations. Meaning that more work to promote

these resources is needed, and it is something that needs to be taking seriously because give

people what they need to be more inform of prepare themselves if some day they are facing a

situation like this, and they know where to ask for help can make a difference.

The government not only gives organizations to help people facing domestic violence but

also laws. The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 helped to take domestic violence concerns

into legislative matters (U.S. Department of Justice, 2000). This law gives recognition to victims

of domestic violence and helps them to have resolution and a case in the court.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, Domestic Violence is a serious issue that has different types of abuse, and

some of the most commons are physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and financial

abuse. All of them having the same weight and importance because all have serious

repercussions for the victim and are inflicted to exert power and control. Domestic Violence

affects men almost in the same ways as women even though women are the most common

victims. Also, children are affected because they grow up witnessing domestic violence and

serious emotional and psychological problems are generated as a result of this situation, along

with long-term effect. It is true that in the United States exist many organizations and resources

to help victims and survivors of domestic violence, but is also true that the number of people that

know about them are less and the ones that actually know about them, and more work to promote

them has to be done.

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References

K. Kelleher, W. Garder (2006). Co-Occurring Intimate Partner Violence and Child Maltreatment:

Local Policies/Practices and Relationships to Child Placement, Family Services and Residence.

Journal Criminal Justice, 8(3). 1-31. Retrieved from

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/213503.pdf

L. Bancroft (2004). The Effects of Domestic Violence on Children. Retrieved from

http://www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org/effect-on-children.html.

National Domestic Violence Hotline (2012) Statistics. Retrieved from

http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/crime/domestic-violence/forms-of-intimate-

partner-violence/

National Network to End Domestic Violence (March 8, 2010). Domestic Violence Counts 2009:

A 24-hour census of domestic violence shelters and services. Retrieved from:

https://nnedv.org/content/frequently-asked-questions-about-domestic-violence/

P. Tjaden, N. Thoennes (July 2000). Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner

Violence. Retrieved from

https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/21858

U.S. Department of Justice (2000). Forms of Intimate Partner Violence. Retrieved from

http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/crime/domestic-violence/forms-of-intimate-

partner-violence/