Chapter Seven Intimate Partner Abuse

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 2 Introduction Intimate partner violence: also called domestic violence, is violence committed by a current or former spouse, opposite-sex cohabiting partner, same-sex cohabiting partner, date, or boyfriend or girlfriend. Intimate partner violence and abuse takes many forms and it is often repeated.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 3 Different Forms of Abuse Physical abuse Sexual abuse Emotional abuse, and Economic abuse

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 4 Physical Abuse: Behaviors may include: punching, shoving, slapping, biting, kicking, using a weapon against a partner, throwing items, Pulling hair, and restraining partner.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 5 Sexual Abuse Sexual violence may include: forcing a partner to perform sexual acts, telling the partner that she asked for the abuse, (in sadomasochism), and rape

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 6 Emotional and Psychological abuse May include: verbal abuse such as calling of names, criticizing, playing mind games, humiliating the partner, and reinforcing internalized homophobia.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 7 Economic Abuse Economic control creates financial dependency. It may include: keeping the partner from getting a job, getting the partner fired from a job, making the partner ask for money, and taking the money that he or she has earned

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 8 The Battered Women’s Movement Major victories accomplished: 1. Victims identified 2. Heightened victim awareness 3. Intervention strategies 4. Protection and prevention 5. Batterer’s programs 6. Increased awareness of violence against lesbian and gay partners and males 7. Violence in dating relationships

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 9 Health and Safety Issues Homelessness Injury and Trauma Quality of Life Issues Hotline and shelters

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 10 Violence Against Women Women are the most frequent victims of intimate partner violence One woman is victimized by an intimate partner every 1.3 minutes She is typical of any woman, but the danger for her is in her own home She comes from every walk of life, age, race, ethnicity, and social class.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 11 Women and Violence African American Women American Indian and Alaska Native Women Asian Women Caucasian Women Disabled Women Hispanic/Latina Women

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 12 The Military and Violence against Women Primarily the civilian spouse of active duty personnel About 62% of abusers are on active military duty More than 18,000 incidents reported to the Department of Defense’s family advocacy program in 2001 Intimate violence handled on two separate tracks: the military justice system the family advocacy system.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 13 Violence Against Men Men are also victimized Stigma of being a male and the fear of not being believed are the reasons less likely to report and seek services One man is victimized every 6.7 minutes by an intimate partner Full extent of violence toward men not known Some men do experience significant injury

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 14 Male Victims Four factors leading to husband abuse Ineffective communication between spouses Struggle over control and power in the relationship or perception of lesser power Husband abuse is evidenced as a form of social disorganization The decision to injure partner is made with the knowledge that the apprehension or social censure is slim.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 15 Socialization factors that make it difficult for men to achieve recovery 1. Treatment 2. Minimization 3. Shame 4. Masculine identity 5. Male intimacy 6. Sexual identity 7. Power and control dynamics 8. Externalization 9. Compulsive behaviors

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 16 Theories of Intimate Partner Violence Cycle of Violence Theory by Lenore Walker, The Battered Woman Phase I: Tension Building Phase II: Acute Battering Phase III: Honeymoon

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 17 Feminist Sociopolitical Theory Intimate partner violence considered as endemic to cultures influence by a patriarchal social structure. Refers to the social system that recognizes the complete dominance of men over women. Patriarchy is recognized as the most common and enduring social system.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 18 Individual-Based Theories Ascribe family violence to psychological problems such as personality disorders, the batterer’s childhood experiences, or biological disposition. Studies in recent years have refuted thesis, less than 10 percent of abusive parents were found to be emotionally maladjusted. Multiple factor theories are sought to determine the cause of abuse and neglect.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 19 Social-Psychological Model An integrated theory that brings together three approaches to crime causation: Social learning: learned through direct instruction, modeling, and reinforcement. Unequal power relations: abusive behavior will be tolerated, born through feminist contribution. Personal choice theory: acts out the violence instead of using alternative methods of conflict resolution.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 20 Sexual Offenses Marital Rape: a prevalent form of sexual abuse – unwanted intercourse, or penetration obtained by force, threat of force. Most states did not consider a crime till 1970’s In 1993, a crime in all 50 states One in every seven married Punishment prescribed is often lighter than for other types of rape

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 21 Date Rape Includes unwanted intercourse, oral sex, anal sex, or other sexual contact through the use of force or threat of force by casual or intimating dating partners. Social term used to describe, not a specific crime called “date rape”. Common experience among young adult women One in five women have experience forced sex in their lifetime.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 22 Dating Violence Victims Younger individuals are at risk for this form of violence Violence that occurs in a dating or courtship relationship Includes sexual assaults, rape, physical assault and battery, and verbal and emotional abuse. Dating couples more likely to be violent than married couples. High rates found among university students. A range of 1.5 to 20 percent of students reported inflicting injury on partner.

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 23 Factors Contributing to Assaulting Partners Anger management Antisocial personality Conflict with partner Communication problems Criminal history Dominance Jealousy Negative attributions about the partner Neglect history Sexual abuse history Stressful conditions Violence approval

Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence, 4 th ed., Gosselin © 2010 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. 24 Why Do Intimate Partner Violence Victims Stay? The fact is women do leave their abusers. On average, women leave and return to an abusive partner five times before permanently leaving the relationship. Reasons for staying are complex. Battered women experience shame, embarrassment, isolation. There are many reasons why a victim may not leave : fear, lack of support, difficulties of single parenting, reduced financial circumstances, lacking a safety plan, isolation, rationalization, etc.