Literature Review on prevalence of domestic violence 

Literature Review on prevalence of domestic violence 

According to a research by Straus and Gelles (1990), prevalence of domestic violence is due to women engagement in violence against their male counterparts the same way a men are against women. Feminist researchers such as Kurz (1993), have insisted on the replacement of the term domestic or family violence with women battering. This notion they argue, is because domestic or family violence downplays the fact that women are mostly the victims of domestic violence. Dobash, Dobash & Wilson (1992), also reinforce Kurz’s argument suggesting that in instances where women are perpetrators in a case of domestic violence, they turn out to be cases of self-defense. Brown (1987), explains such cases of women turning violent to their male partners are caused by women suffering prolonged abuse and have decided to react by defending themselves. According to Walker (1979), cases of women as perpetrators of domestic violence, illustrates a situation where women have gone through a tenuous psychological state making them to act violently due to a continuous and lengthy abuse by their batterers.

Most intimate or marital relationships are often characterized by conflict and aggressive behavior, however according to research, abuse incidents that are most likely to cause harm are those in which men abuse their female partners. According to Blackstone (1987), culturaldomestic violence is an act that was acceptable and in the English common law, a man was allowed to chastise their wives only moderately, in order to protect the family. Many legal restrictions that were employed in the 19^th century saw the abolition of such laws.

Justice System Response to Domestic Violence

According to Erez and Belknap (1998), the first contact the perpetrator and victim of domestic violence have with the criminal justice system is likely the police. This is likely the case with victims . However as various instance has proven, victims are often left with a low self-esteem following inadequate response from the police which makes the victims less likely to seek for help in the criminal justice system in the future. Only until recently there have been three major police response with regard to domestic violence in the USA. These are arrest, mediation or non-intervention. In the past, only one form of response was applicable that of non-intervention. This is because domestic violence was viewed as a private matter and the police and criminal justice system felt that such matters were best handled at home (Erez & Belknap, 1995).

According to Straus (1980), low priority was attached to incidences of domestic violence by the police who viewed spousal abuse as unglamorous and unrewarding. Buzawa & Buzawa (1996), argue that the police therefore, made a deliberate effort to ignore or delay response to such calls for hours. All this was bound to change after the intervention of psychologists and social scientists who advocated for mediation in incidents of family disturbance. According to Sherman (1984), arrest seemed as a far more effective deterrent to the batterer compared to mediation or separation of parties and caused reduction in repeated violence. Sherman (1984), reinforcement of arrest as a response of criminal justice to domestic violence was in respect to the findings of the Minneapolis domestic violence experiment.

Research demonstrates that the police still exercise will even when the law or policy dictates arrest in cases of domestic violence. According to Ferraro (1989), the decision by police to arrest batterers is influenced by various factors such as an officer’s understanding or interpretation of the law, the load of wok available, and beliefs or ideological inclinations that regarding battering of women. This means that there still lacks a significant increase in the number of arrests even when states have adopted a mandatory arrest policy. Worden (2000), asserts that attitudes and beliefs by practitioners that are most likely to influence certain policies such as arrest, can be changed through experience or training. As such practitioners are required by reforms in law enforcement to review their deeply rooted beliefs or change their past practices in light with the policies they are charged to enforce. Maxwell, Garner & Fagan (2001), as much as the effectiveness of arrest policies is up for debate, according to the most recent evidence batterers are more likely to abstain from being re-arrested. Erez (2000) argues there is still little attention and understanding of the crucial role that the police play in domestic violence. Additionally, Erez argues that much attention has been focused on the batterer leaving the victims without anyone to tend for them. Belknap & McCall (1995), add that in addition to arresting batterers there are other actions the police can take such as informing the victims and violators of their legal rights, available shelters and programs.

The police are basically the gatekeepers and the law enforcers gatekeepers  of the criminal processing system, their role however entails channeling deserving cases for hearing and judgment. Hart (1993), asserts that the arrest of violators can only become complete if the abusers are tried, convicted and punished. The criminal justice system has often been viewed as problematic in processing cases of domestic violence due to the reactive nature of the response by the criminal justice. Also due to the nature of most cases on domestic violence where there are often no witnesses, and with little physical evidence, the cases are often charged as misdemeanors. Worden (2000), purports that due to the high attrition rate it becomes difficult for prosecutors to estimate the future risks or dangerousness of the victim. Ford & Regoli (1993), claim that the adversarial nature of the criminal justice system presupposes that both parties have personal and financial independence as well as victims seek for punishment and public conviction. However, research has shown that there are various reasons that motivate victims to seek for criminal justice intervention most of which are not related to punishing their abusers. According to Feder et al. (2011), it is seemingly difficult to assert or draw conclusions on what works in the field of domestic violence due to the inability to adopt experimental research approaches and the methodological limitations of the empirical studies. Even so the current study purposes to better understand the experiences of victims of domestic violence with the police and justice system. This understanding can be arrived at through examination of various factors such as

• Experiences of victims who reported and the perceived helpfulness of the police.
• Rates at which victims report to the police.
• Gender differences in experience and perceived helpfulness of the justice system.
• Rates at which there is involvement with the family and criminal law systems, including protection orders.

Data Collection and Analysis

For this study, the researcher used survey method with the application of questionnaires across to respondents. The questionnaires were distributed across various demographics, where close-ended questions were employed including age, gender, employment status, ethnicity, and income. The application of questionnaires extended to the respondent’s experience of domestic violence. The respondents were subjected to close-ended questions answering whether they are experiencing domestic violence, have experienced it in one year, or have experienced domestic violence over and year ago. Additionally respondents were required to fill out in a Yes or No format whether they had reported instances of domestic violence to the police, and a four point Likert scale was provided to illustrate on how helpful the intervention of the police was. The same principle was used to examine the experiences of respondents with the justice system. The questionnaire also applied open-ended questions for respondents to elaborate on their experiences with the criminal law systems, or the police.

Data Analysis

SPSS V.22 was used to analyze close ended questions while for open ended questions an inductive thematic analysis was applied. From the total sample (n = 8300), 32.6% of the respondents had reported experiencing domestic violence at one particular time in their life, while out of this sample 86.7% were women. Generally 34.9% had reported to the police with a higher tendency to report being with women than men. 34.0% of the respondents indicated using family law systems while 18.7% indicated that they had preferred dealing with criminal law system. On the helpfulness of the police 35.7% of the respondents found reporting the incident to the police not helpful 30.3% somewhat helpful while 25.9% the incident very helpful. 23.6% of the respondents were not sure.

With regard to the criminal law system 35.3% of the respondents found the system not at all helpful while 41.6% of the respondents viewed intervention of the criminal law system somewhat helpful. 16.9% found the system very helpful while 6.2% were not sure.

Data Reliability and Validity

Krippendorff (2008), defines reliability as the ability of tabulated data with the same research instrument to remain consistent over a lengthy period of time and still present an authoritative sample, while validity is the determination whether the study answers the objectives of the research or if it certainly accomplishes the ultimate goal of the study Joppe (2000). According to Kline (2010), adoption of this method will enhance validity through attaining an average variance extraction for correlation variable. Winter (2000), argues that to capture the broader perspective of reliability researchers need to consider using tools that systemize appraisal. Additionally, by so doing this may also help in capturing the experiences of people which could be appropriate for a requisite determined response with apportioned exclusive characters that will embrace validity.

Conclusion

From the above analysis of data, it is apparent that a large percentage of the respondents who have approached criminal law systems do not find this intervention entirely effective. While victims still approach justice systems for help, as per their experiences, this help is not enough to warrant justice. For this reason, the justice system should incorporate measures that will ensure what victims of domestic violence define as justice is what they provide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Belknap, J., & McCall, K.D. (1994).Woman battering and police referrals. Journal of Criminal Justice 22 (3), 223-236.

Blackstone, W. (1987). Commentaries on the Laws of England. St. Paul, MN: West.

Brown, S. E. (1984). Police responses to wife beating: Neglect of a crime of violence. Journal of Criminal Justice 12, 277-88

Buzawa, E., & Buzawa, C. (1996). Domestic violence: The criminal justice response. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Dobash. R. E., Dobash, R. & Wilson, M. (1992). The myth of sexual symmetry in marital violence. Social Problems, 39, 71-91.

Erez, E. (2000). Immigration, culture conflict and domestic violence/woman battering. Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal 2 (2), 17-21.

Erez, E., & Belknap, J. (1995). Policing domestic violence. In W. Bailey (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Police Science (2nd ed). New York: Garland Publications.

Feder, L., Holditch Niolon, P., Campbell, J., Wallinder, J., Nelson, R., & Larrouy, H. (2011). The need for experimental methodology in intimate partner violence: Finding programs that effectively prevent IPV. Violence Against Women, 17(3), 340-358.

Ferraro, K. J. (1989). The legal response to woman battering in the United States. In J. Hanmer, J. Radford, & E. A. Stanko (Eds.). Women, policing and male violence. London: Routledge and Kegan.

Ford, D. A., & Regoli, M.J. (1993). The Indianapolis domestic violence prosecution experiment: Final report, NU Grant No. 86-IJ-CX-0012. Indianapolis: Indiana University; and Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Mental Health.

Hart, B. (1993). Battered women and the criminal justice system. American Behavioral Scientist 36 (5), 624-638.

Joppe, M. (2000). The Research Process. Available at: http://www.ryerson.ca/~mjoppe/rp.htm Accessed 05/11/2018

Kline, R. B. (2010). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (3rd ed.).New York: Guilford Press.

Kurz, D. (1993). Social science perspectives on wife abuse: Current debates and future directions. In P. Bart & E. Morgan, Violence Against Women the Bloody Footprints (pp. 252- 269). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Krippendorff, K., 2008. Reliability. The International Encyclopedia of Communication.

Maxwell, C. D. Garner, J. H., & Fagan, J. A. (2001). The effects of arrest on intimate partner violence: New evidence from the spouse assault replication program series – Research in brief. Washington DC: National Institute of Justice.

Sherman, L. (1984). The specific deterrent effects of arrest for domestic assault. American Sociological Review 49 (2), 261-272.

Straus, M. A., & Gelles, R. J. (1990). Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptations to violence in families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Walker, L. (979) The Battered Woman. New York: Harper & Row.

Winter, G., (2000), “A comparative discussion of the notion of ‘validity ‘in qualitative and quantitative research,” The qualitative report, 4(3), pp.1-14.

Worden, P. A. (2000). The changing boundaries of the criminal justice system: Redefining the problem and the response in domestic violence. In C. M. Friel, Criminal Justice 2000(Vol. 2) Boundary Changes in Criminal Justice Organizations (pp. 215-266). Washington D.C.: National Institute of Justice.