We do not deal with justice here; we deal with the law.
- Herman Melville
In July 2003 a domestic violence advocate in the Tacoma, Washington area stated that she wanted to hold a news conference on July 14th to tell the people in the community what they should know about domestic violence. One must suppose she believes she is an “expert” on the issue. The advocate is quoted on www.Tribnet.com on July 14, 2003 as declaring, “It seems like someone’s declared open season on women.” What this advocate should be aware of is that there is no single person, group, or ideological philosophy that has all the answers.
Harvey Wallace writes on page 8 of his text Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspectives that, “Researchers have interviewed, tested, observed, and evaluated thousands of people in an attempt to discover the factors that contribute to family violence. Unfortunately, to date no one authority has discovered the single correct answer.” Perhaps because of some dogmatic agenda this advocate does not understand domestic violence is not a problem only for women. It is child, sibling, spousal, intimate partner, and elder abuse regardless of gender.
Jeffery Fagan writes in The Criminalization of Domestic Violence, (it may be ordered from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) by calling 1-800-851-3420) that, without meaningful change in the structure of research and evaluation in domestic violence, a reviewer 5 or 10 years from now will likely reach the same conclusions reached in this review: "We just don't know, the evaluation data aren't very good." We could have said all this 5 years ago and actually did say it 10 years ago (Boruch, 1994). Let's not be embarrassed or embarrass ourselves by continuing on this frustrating path of fad-driven and nonsystematic policies with weak after-the-fact evaluations.
The majority of professionals nationwide have come to recognize that the issue of domestic violence is far more complex than “an open season on women.” Domestic violence is far more multifaceted than any “one-label-fits-all” philosophy. The “one-label-fits-all” philosophy proffers that; (1) all domestic violence incidents are “battering,” (2) mandatory or preferred arrest always works best, and (3) the victim’s wishes should always be ignored concerning intervention, treatment, and prosecution.
The findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) reveal that many people regardless of age, gender or sexual preference can be either victims or abusers of domestic violence. The Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women is available online here, and it may be ordered from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) by calling 1-800-851-3420.
Everyone concerned about the issue of domestic violence, regardless of their ideological beliefs, needs to read this report. It documents that, “The data show that violence is more widespread and injurious to women’s and men’s health than previously thought. . .”
The report reveals that approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States. Approximately 22.1% of women and 7.4% of men were physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, or date in their life time. It reports that 39% of females and 24.8% of males report being injured during their most recent physical assault. It reveals that 51.9% of women and 66.4% of men said they were physically assaulted as a child by an adult, caretaker and/or as an adult by any type of attacker.
An estimated 1.9 million women and 3.2 million men are physically assaulted annually in the United States. The findings from NVAWS document that females are the primary victims of violent injurious and sexual assaults by an intimate partner and that males are victims of violence far more than women.
There Needs To Be Education
There is little agreement between professional researchers and those in the academic community concerning just what the causal factors of domestic violence are. In his Family Violence text Wallace writes on page 3, “However, an overview of issues that affect the study of family violence provides a basis for understanding that this form of aggression requires additional research before we can determine all of its ramifications.”
Regardless of the causal factors, acknowledging that a problem exists is the first step in understanding the insidious dangers of domestic violence. Domestic violence often inflicts physical and psychological suffering. It destroys families, careers and results in the deaths of too many children, women, and men.
While there is disagreement among the theorists concerning which model works best, all of them would or should agree it is important that we learn how to recognize minor forms of aberrant, controlling or physically abusive behavior before they become violent and injurious.
It is important to acknowledge when one professes that any single, stand alone, grand theory is absolutely right, they are wrong. Rather than painting one theory right and the other theory wrong domestic violence advocates and other professionals need to understand that their belief may be right or wrong given the specific complexity of an individual relationships. It is time these professionals stop arguing amongst themselves and allow their individual theories and approaches to become more complementary and less conflicting.
One-Label-Fits-All
Esta Soler is the President and founder of the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) www.endabuse.org. Soler writes, “Certainly, all violence is wrong regardless of who is the perpetrator.” However, she also states that, “Domestic violence occurs when there is an ongoing pattern of fear, intimidation and violent assault.” She does not think that each and every time there is an incident of family conflict such as shoving, pushing, slapping, etc it should be considered a domestic violence incident.
Ellen Pence, one of the foremost and influential feminists concerning the issue of domestic violence, believes that many incidents should not and will not be resolved in a courtroom. Never the less, the difference between battering and minor family conflict is often ignored and irrelevant when civil restraining orders are issued.
Laws and courts in all fifty states do not recognize the differences between family conflict and battering. Domestic violence in eyes of the criminal justice system, the majority of domestic violence advocates, and in our civil and criminal courts is characterized as a single simple assault between spouses, intimate partners, or any family member. Too many people and institutions continue to ignore the distinction made by Soler and many other researchers and professionals.
Summary
All family members must understand the dangers presented by domestic violence regardless of how minor. Steps must be taken at the first sign of any family conflict. All family members must understand that if left untreated any of these lesser forms of family conflict can escalate into violent and dangerous domestic violence incidents. However, there must be more choices than a “one-label-fits-all” premise that proclaims that all family conflict is battering and all intervention must be arrest and prosecution.
A National Institute of Justice sponsored report, “Effects of No-Drop Prosecution of Domestic Violence Upon Conviction Rates notes” that:
Finally, we do not know whether no-drop increases victim safety or places the victims in greater jeopardy. . . Before no-drop is embraced as a desirable policy, we owe it to victims to find out whether they are well-served by taking away their right to decide the extent to which they want to pursue a criminal justice solution to their problem.
Another NIJ report, Exposure Reduction or Backlash? The Effects of Domestic Violence Resources on Intimate partner Homicide” suggests that:
The results for prosecutor willingness suggest that simply being willing to prosecute cases of protection order violations may aggravate already tumultuous relationships. . . Increases in the willingness of prosecutors’ offices to take cases of protection order violation are associated with increases in the homicide of white married intimates, black unmarried intimates, and white unmarried females.
Controlling Violence Against Women is the most extensive, research publication concerning the Violence Against Women Act. It is an important report. All of the members of the civil and criminal justice system, domestic violence advocates and public policy makers should be familiar with the results of this study. It includes 193 references of important research studies and grants.
Most important this study warns of a number of problematic concerns that continue to be ignored by the majority of the nationally recognized domestic violence organizations and most of our public policy makers:
(1) State definitions of what constitutes a “domestic violence incident” differ dramatically from state to state. This renders any single standard national policy improbable is not impossible.
(2) What works in one state may fail in another. Conversely, what research shows to be relatively ineffective in one state may be the answer to controlling violence in another.
(3) What “fits” in one state or jurisdiction may not “fit” in another.
(4) There are few impact evaluations of policies in place that approach methodological standards that can insure sound data that can be used to shape effective policy.
(5) Above all, communities need to know that their policies and practices will not endanger the victim.
Conclusion
It is a myth that the “normal” family is filled with love, compassion and caring. In the 1990s Richard Gelles wrote in Intimate Violence in Families that the family is one of society’s most violent settings. Gelles writes that in the family people are:
[m]ore likely to be killed, physically assaulted, hit, beat up, slapped, or spanked in
their own homes by other family members than anywhere else, or by anyone else.
Rather than any “one-label-fits-all” intervention we need to assess and evaluate each family for its individual needs. We need to permit and encourage families to seek early assistance and allow victims to play a role in what they believe is best for them. And as difficult as it may seem we need to respond to some offenders of minor family conflict with more sympathy and understanding. If our only response is draconian punishment we are guilty of sending the message that force and violence are acceptable means of controlling the behavior of others.
Domestic violence advocates must be both highly skilled and educated people, preferably with a graduate degree in psychology or social work. The advocates can assist family members who have abuse claims while they decide what their best course of action is. In short, family members need to be listened to and offered choices.
Domestic violence policies and domestic violence advocates need to listen to the wants and needs of all family members. Accepting only one model of intervention as the preferred standard, mandatory and preferred arrest, and the issuance of restraining orders with no claim of physical assault or even threats of physical assault make that improbable if not impossible. All family members must understand quite clearly that they must act early to prevent any escalation of minor abusive behavior.
Domestic violence interventions must become positive and inclusive, not negative and exclusive. We must be willing to accept the beliefs of others while not relinquishing our individual beliefs. History documents that any belief system that proclaims it alone holds the “ultimate truth” breeds ignorance, intolerance and extremism. Remaining stuck at either end of any paradigm only serves to hinder a balanced and proper understanding of the issue.
