Domestic violence: prevalence, impacts, and intervention strategies

Domestic violence is an insidious problem that affects communities large and small within the entire nation. It is a problem that affects young and old, affluent and underprivileged alike. There are many ways to view domestic violence. Though domestic violence may be defined in many ways, for purposes of this evaluation will be defined as violence that occurs between two individuals living together (Davis, 1998). Typically these individuals will be partners but this is not always the case. Domestic violence may include any type of violence whether verbal or physical, including hitting, verbal abuse, neglect, or any other type of violent act that leads to harm or injury in the battered victim.

Though several legislative measures have been enacted to curb domestic violence, there is still little uniformity of practice among community policing agencies and other support services. At present legislators and community members are considering working together to determine whether a combination of punitive and non-punitive punishment might best reduce the number of domestic violence cases reported each year. These ideas and more are discussed below.

Analysis of Violence

There have been several studies conducted of domestic violence, some that have examined the frequency with which domestic violence occurs and others that have examined reform for domestic violence predators. According the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2000) there has been some decline in recent years in the number of people victimized by domestic violence, particularly women. Yet despite this fact domestic violence is still a crime that continues at an "alarming rate" with statistics suggesting that at least 1 million victims suffer each year from domestic violence committed by their spouse or partner (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000) and more than one in three women experiences some form of domestic violence during their lifetime (Baker, Carlin, Price & Salazar, 2003).

The study conducted by the Bureau of Justice does not indicate whether or not this perceived decline is due to an actual reduction in the number of individuals affected by the crime or is more the result of less people reporting domestic violence when it occurs. Typically studies that focus on domestic violence are not well rounded and incorporative of several different factors; rather they tend to focus on one aspect of violence vs. another. Reform has been proposed in this respect so that domestic violence cases of the future are examined in more detail.

Studies do show that women are more likely than men to be victims of domestic violence, and that domestic violence more often occurs among intimate partners including husbands and wives, and boyfriends and girlfriends rather than strangers (Baker et. al, 2003). In addition statistics show that more than 72% of domestic violence victims that are killed as a result of violence are women (Baker, et. al, 2000). The statistics are telling, suggesting that solutions must be found in order to not only curb violence but save lives. Because of these statistics many of the programs geared toward advocacy for victims of domestic violence are geared toward women and encouraging awareness among female populations of this serious offense. There are many advocacy and shelter programs that focus on women's rights and the needs of battered women exclusively.

Domestic violence used to be something that was viewed as a more intimate or private matter, but in modern times it is generally considered a public affair, with many laws being implemented and enacted in order to combat. Because domestic violence is becoming more commonplace and public, law enforcement officials are considering the opinions of victims and community members with regard to domestic violence as well. Interestingly the community approach focuses more on non-punitive punishment such as counseling and rehabilitation for offenders, whereas the traditional approach among law enforcement agencies has been jail time and arrest of offenders (Baker, et. al, 2003).

The methods used to address domestic violence are varied. The trend in legal development has been toward punitive sanctions as mentioned above, including interventions as arrest and prosecution of perpetrators rather than counseling and other support or treatment measures (Baker, et. al, 2003; Robinson, 1999). This trend in punitive punishment has been in part the result of an organized domestic violence movement aimed at preventing further crimes against the innocent (Baker, et. al, 2003). One thing is certain however, there is not consensus about how the criminal justice system "should best respond to domestic violence, though it appears the majority actually support nonpunitive responses" (Baker, et. al, 2003).

The sentence length that someone may serve for domestic violence activity will vary depending on the nature of the crime and the severity of injury reported by the victim. Obviously in cases of homicide the sentence is much longer than it would be for first time offenders. More often than not however first time offenders become repeat offenders in the world of domestic violence, suggesting that sentencing alone is not enough to discourage the behavior.

There are some theories that suggest that deterrence is the best method for addressing domestic violence. Deterrence theory is based on the assumption that the criminal justice system should impose "meaningful consequences" for criminals that commit certain behaviors and that by doing so they will prevent further crimes and associated negative consequences (Baker, et. al, 2003).

Studies suggested that few interventions have been successful in impacting the rate of recidivism for domestic violence offenders (Shephard, 1999). In recent studies no combination of interventions including jail time, counseling sessions or other intervention programs successfully identified whether someone would be a repeat offender or not; there have been however some studies that suggests that the characteristics of a batterer may be important in determining the type of intervention and thus reducing the rate of recidivism (Shepard, 1999).

Legislative changes are occurring as judicial officials are coming to grips with the fact that domestic violence is still a very serious problem within society. Officials are working on campaigns and surveys to assess public opinion and to test the results of various methods for reform to determine which are more likely to successfully curb violence.

Public awareness campaigns are also being implemented to help the public better understand the predominance of domestic violence. Research supports the idea that 'social norms' may contribute to the socio-cultural climate which can either encourage or discourage domestic violence (Baker, et. al, 2003). The future of domestic violence may depend on "community wide educational interventions" that are geared toward dissemination of information about domestic violence and educating the public (Baker, et. al, 2003).

Modern domestic policy has focused on the absence of shared vision and accountability (Shephard, 1999). Studies support the notion that a community response toward domestic violence might be the best approach to reducing the rate of recidivism and incidence of domestic violence in communities; such an effort would involve coordination between police, prosecutors, probation officer, counselor and judges with the aim of "implementing policies and procedures that improve interagency coordination and lead to more uniform responses to domestic violence cases" (Shephard, 1999).

This may include mandatory arrest policies, follow up support and prompt prosecution as well as monitoring compliance with probation and mandatory counseling programs (Shephard, 1999).