Examine the Patterns of, and Reasons for, Domestic Violence.

797 Words4 Pages
Examine the patterns of, and reasons for, domestic violence. Domestic abuse, by definition, is any type of mental or physical abuse that takes place within an intimate relationship, and forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. Domestic violence accounts for almost one sixth of all violent crimes ,according to the British Crime Survey(BCS), and has been found to follow particular social patterns. For example; Women’s Aid statistics show that most victims or domestic abuse are women, and almost a quarter of all women have been assaulted by a partner at least once, Mirrelles-Black found that ninety-nine percent of recorded incidents against women are committed by men, and Walby and Allen discovered that poverty and youth(under thirty) are the most likely candidates to experience domestic abuse. Official statistics have resulted in far less crime than reported in the BCS, and can be seen as unreliable evidence for patterns and trends, due to; not all incidents being reported, police being reluctant to record instances that are, due to e regular lack of evidence and trivial approach, and agencies and authorities trying to stay out of private affairs, adopting the opinion that families are positive things, and the victims can always leave is necessary. The BCS due to its anonymity has resulted in far higher crime rate, which leads sociologists to question the validity of their statistics and patterns. The most commonly found pattern is that women are almost always the victims of domestic violence, and men are predominantly the abusers. One reason to explain the gender related patterns found by sociologists is the idea that abuse such as this is due to the patriarchy of society, and is merely a way of maintaining male dominance and power. This reason is primarily adopted by feminists, who believe that marriage is a trap for women, making them
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