 Provide estimates of different types of assaults  Provide information on scientific research on family violence  Discuss theories of causes of family violence  Provide definitions of family violence  Discuss the various forms of abuse  Explain physical and psychological consequences of family violence  Discuss current treatments for offenders and victims of family violence  Review policy recommendations to end family violence

 Provide an overview of family violence  Answer the following:  When (and how) did family violence come to be recognized as a social problem?  How is family violence defined?

 Common view that families are safe places for men, women and children  Families are idealized  Violence may be occurring in families behind closed doors  Hidden  Ignored  Unnoticed  Definitions of family violence lack agreement  Statistics on family violence are underestimates and should be viewed cautiously © Dr. Ginna Babcock

 Intrafamilial Non-Fatal Abuse  Women and children more likely to be victimized in their own homes  Parents are the perpetrators in most child maltreatment cases (80%)  52% of women and 66% of men report being assaulted as a child by a caretaker  Intimates perpetrated the majority of rapes in 2006 (60.9%)  22% of women and 7% of men report experiencing IPV at some point in their lives  Intrafamilial Fatal Abuse  Approximately 1,760 children died from abuse and neglect in One or both parents caused 70% of the fatalities  46% of juvenile murder victims knew their offender  60% of females and 39.9% of males were killed by intimate partners according to statistics in 16 different state  73% of homicide-suicide deaths were preceded by IPV problems  Females are more likely to be killed by intimates (30%) or known acquaintances (21%). Males are more likely to be killed by unknown assailants (37%) or known acquaintances (35%)  In 2005, homicide was the 4 th leading cause of death for children ages 1-11.

 Structural Factors  Amount of time spent together  Power differentials  Dependency issues  Inability to fight back  Most family relationships bound by law and not easily severed  Privacy and autonomy granted to families  Idealization of the family  Belief that parental rights supersede children’s rights  Belief that parents can and should control the development of children  Belief that family members will act in the best interest of children  Belief that families have right to privacy and autonomy

 Family norms  Acceptance of a certain amount of aggression  Spanking  Social Tolerance of Violence  Violence is accepted, encouraged and supported  Spillover effect  Violence in media, movies, games, etc.  Objectification of males  Violence is socially learned  Cultural Factors  Accepted in certain cultures around the world  Beliefs in male dominance  Individual Factors  Mental illness or disorder  Vulnerability to jealousy or anger  Disruptions in intimate attachments

 Increased Media and Academic coverage  Progress in reducing violence against children and women reached international level:  Children’s Human Rights  Women’s Human Rights  In the United States, claims-makers began defining various forms of family violence as social problems  Social Constructionism moves family violence from a social condition to a social problem

 Value of children has changed historically  The discovery of child physical abuse in the U.S. can be traced to the house refuge movement  First child abuse court case was tried in 1874  Child-saving movement helps promote child protective statutes in 1900s.  The battered child syndrome as first described in the 1960s help to recognize child abuse as a social problem  Child sexual abuse is not universally recognized  Child neglect is often forgotten and psychological maltreatment established as a form of maltreatment in the 1990s

 Women’s rights movement moved from securing the right to vote to victimization of women within the family  Wife abuse gained public interest in 1960s leading to National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 1976  Health care and government entities raised awareness about violence against women  Women’s movement influential in raising awareness about marital rape  1980s dating violence viewed as a form of violence against women  Stalking, dating sexual assault and cyber stalking recognized as abuse primarily  Elder Abuse gain legal support with mandated reported laws  Female-to-male IPV attracting more research attention

 More attention is being given to violence against women and children around the world  Cross-cultural definitions and understanding of family violence are important to consider  Variations among diverse groups are important to consider in research and practice.

 Some understudied groups are:  Immigrant families  Ethnic and racial minorities  Gay and lesbian partners  Disabled intimates  Diverse religious groups  Rural residents  Intimates serving in the military

 Defining such terms as family, violence, rape, child neglect, family violence are integral parts of the claims-making process  The lack of consensus about the dynamics of family violence has made it difficult to formalized family-violent acts into laws  The legal definitions of IPV are too narrow to fully address the complexities of this problem  Social scientific progress in the field of family violence depends on achieving some consensus on what constitutes family violence

 Numerous policies and practices have been introduced to help address family violence  Some prevention strategies to consider:  Family support and training programs  School-based programs  Community awareness campaigns  Intervention Strategies:  Mandatory reporting laws  Family preservation, foster care, and adoption  Criminal justice responses  Treating offenders and victims  Shelters and hotlines  Coordinated community responses

 Family violence is uncommon  Only poor people are violent  Abused children always become abusive partners or parents  Battered women “ask for it”  Family violence sometimes “just happens”  Minor acts of family violence are always trivial and inconsequential  Alcohol and drugs are the real cause of family violence  Women who claim date rape are “lying,” “Deserve what they got,” or were “asking for it”  Some people cannot be raped, and anyway coercive sexual contact is not damaging  If he ever laid a hand on me, I would leave