Clark County Prosecutor
A Message from the
Prosecuting Attorney
What is Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence Facts
Fiction and Facts about Domestic Violence
FICTION #1: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AFFECTS ONLY A
SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATION AND IS RARE.
FACT: National studies estimate that 3 to 4 million women are beaten
each year in our country. A study conducted in 1995 found that 31% of
women surveyed admitted to having been physically assaulted by a husband
or boyfriend. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women
between the ages of 15 and 44 in our country, and the FBI estimates
that a woman is beaten every 15 seconds. Thirty percent of female homicide
victims are killed by partners or ex-partners and 1,500 women are murdered
as a result of domestic violence each year in the United States.
FICTION #2: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OCCURS ONLY IN
POOR, UNEDUCATED AND MINORITY FAMILIES.
FACT: Studies of domestic violence consistently have found that battering
occurs among all types of families, regardless of income, profession,
region, ethnicity, educational level or race. However, the fact that
lower income victims and abusers are over-represented in calls to police,
battered women's shelters and social services may be due to a lack of
other resources.
FICTION #3: THE REAL PROBLEM IS COUPLES WHO ASSAULT
EACH OTHER. WOMEN ARE JUST AS VIOLENT AS MEN.
FACT: A well-publicized study conducted by Dr. Murray Strauss at the
University of New Hampshire found that women use violent means to resolve
conflict in relationships as often as men. However, the study also concluded
that when the context and consequences of an assault are measured, the
majority of victims are women. The U.S. Department of Justice has found
that 95% of the victims of spouse abuse are female. Men can be victims,
but it is rare.
FICTION #4: ALCOHOL ABUSE CAUSES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
FACT: Although there is a high correlation between alcohol, or other
substance abuse, and battering, it is not a causal relationship. Batterers
use drinking as one of many excuses for their violence and as a way
to place the responsibility for their violence elsewhere. Stopping the
abusers' drinking will not stop the violence. Both battering and substance
abuse need to be addressed separately, as overlapping yet independent
problems.
FICTION #5: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS USUALLY A ONE
TIME, ISOLATED OCCURRENCE.
FACT: Battering is a pattern of coercion and control that one person
exerts over another. Battering is not just one physical attack. It includes
the repeated use of a number of tactics, including intimidation, threats,
economic deprivation, isolation and psychological and sexual abuse.
Physical violence is just one of these tactics. The various forms of
abuse utilized by batterers help to maintain power and control over
their spouses and partners.
FICTION #6: MEN WHO BATTER ARE OFTEN GOOD FATHERS AND SHOULD HAVE JOINT
CUSTODY OF THEIR CHILDREN IF THE COUPLE SEPARATES.
Fact: Studies have found that men who batter their wives also abuse
their children in 70% of cases. Even when children are not directly
abused, they suffer as a result of witnessing one parent assault another.
Batterers often display an increased interest in their children at the
time of separation, as a means of maintaining contact with, and thus
control over, their partners.
FICTION #7: WHEN THERE IS VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY,
ALL MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE DYNAMIC, AND THEREFORE,
ALL MUST CHANGE FOR THE VIOLENCE TO STOP.
FACT: Only the batterer has the ability to stop the violence. Battering
is a behavioral choice for which the batterer must be held accountable.
Many battered women make numerous attempts to change their behavior
in the hope that this will stop the abuse. This does not work. Changes
in family members' behavior will not cause the batterer to be non-violent.
FICTION #8: BATTERED WOMEN ARE MASOCHISTIC AND
PROVOKE THE ABUSE. THEY MUST LIKE IT OR THEY WOULD LEAVE.
FACT: Victim provocation is no more common in domestic violence than
in any other crime. Battered women often make repeated attempts to leave
violent relationships, but are prevented from doing so by increased
violence and control tactics on the part of the abuser. Other factors
which inhibit a victim's ability to leave include economic dependence,
few viable options for housing and support, unhelpful responses from
the criminal justice system or other agencies, social isolation, cultural
or religious constraints, a commitment to the abuser and the relationship
and fear of further violence. It has been estimated that the danger
to a victim increases by 70% when she attempts to leave, as the abuser
escalates his use of violence when he begins to lose control.
FICTION #9: MEN HAVE A RIGHT TO DISCIPLINE THEIR
PARTNERS FOR MISBEHAVING. BATTERING IS NOT A CRIME.
FACT: While our society derives from a patriarchal legal system that
afforded men the right to physically chastise their wives and children,
we do not live under such a system now. Women and children are no longer
considered the property of men, and domestic violence is a crime in
every state in the country.
Source: The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's
Office Indiana
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