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The Cause Of Domestic Violence In The United States

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The concept of domestic violence is a topic that is not easily defined. In the National Conference of State Legislature emphasizes that domestic violence is defined under the California code S3206 as: “domestic abuse means intentionally or recklessly to cause bodily injury; in reasonable apprehension of imminent serious bodily injury to that or another.” Victims of domestic violence can be anyone regardless of gender, age, race or economic background. Also, domestic violence does not only involve a couple who is married as it happens to cohabitants, partners who are dating and children. Experts as cited by Tina De Benedictis, Ph.D., Jaelline Jaffe, Ph. D and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. – understanding the cause of domestic violence may be difficult …show more content…

According to early Roman law, a man could beat, divorce, or murder his for offenses committed, by which besmirched his honor or threatened his property rights. These were considered private matters and were not publicly scrutinized. The Catholic Church’s endorsement of “The Rules of Marriage” in the 15th century exhorted the husband to stand as judge of his wife. He was to beat her with a stick upon her commission of an offense. According to the “Rules”, beating showed a concern for the wife’s soul. The common law in England gave the man the right to beat his wife in the interest of maintaining family discipline. The phrase “rule of thumb” referred to the English common law, which allowed a husband to beat his wife if he used a stick that was no bigger than his thumb. It all changed when the English law greatly affected the decisions of the colonial courts. The Puritans openly banned family violence. The laws, however, lacked strict enforcement. It was not until the 1870’s that the first states banned a man’s right to beat his family. The laws were moderately enforced until the feminist movement of the 1960’s started bringing the problems of domestic abuse to the attention of the media. By 1980’s most states had adopted legislation regarding domestic violence (Violence Against Women …show more content…

Most domestic violence cases in 2012 are triggered by intimate partners, followed by acquaintance, girlfriend or boyfriend, spouses, and immediate family members. At least 40% victims of these domestic violence cases are women from years 2004 to 2012 and most of them know their abusers. Also, males are victims of domestic violence, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) study as 10% are reported to have suffered from server domestic violence cases (Truman and Morgan 1-4). While the United States does have the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (VTVPA) to protect victims and stop domestic violence abusers, Caroline Bettinger-Lopez et al stated that is not capable of providing a full remedy when it comes to the protection of the victims as they are assisted by the authorities and end up being violated in the process. The VAWA and the VTVPA are also non- binding acts as each state has their own domestic violence policies and the clauses of both acts is voluntary. Finally, both acts are not fully capable of providing every service needed by victims to recover from their experience (Bettinger-Lopez, Brandt-Young and Carlson

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