From Victim to Offender: The Effects of Male Initiated Violence on Women Arrested for Using Intimate Partner Violence

A number of theorists posit that most women who are arrested for using violence against their intimate partners are in-fact victims of IPV themselves and should be treated as such. However, in this population of women IPV arrestees empirical investigation has yet to explore how physical and emotional victimization experiences are associated with arrest related factors, propensity to be abusive or attitude toward using relationship violence. The current study explores these factors finding no difference in arrest factors between women who (a) deny abuse, (b) report rare/occasional abuse and (c) report frequent/very frequent abuse. However, mixed results were found with regard to participants’ responses on scales measuring propensity to be abusive and attitudes about using violence in marriage. Theoretical and practical related issues are addressed.     

Perceived Risk for Future Intimate Partner Violence among Women in a Domestic Violence Shelter

Research investigating women’s risk assessments for intimate partner violence (IPV) shows that women can predict future violence with relative accuracy. Limited research has investigated factors that are associated with perceived risk and the potential behavioral consequences of victim risk perception. Results from a survey of women in a domestic violence shelter (N = 56) indicated that women perceive lower risk of future violence if the abusive relationship were to end and higher risk of violence if it were to continue. Certain abuse experiences were related to elevated perceptions of personal risk for future violence. Further, perceived personal risk predicted the women’s intention to terminate their relationship upon leaving shelter. Results are discussed as they may inform interventions preventing IPV.

Interpersonal Violence in Alcohol Complicated Marital Relationships (A Study from India)

This study compared 75 wives of alcoholics with an equal number of wives of non-alcoholics matched on key socio-demographic variables, using a cross sectional ex-post facto research design. Instruments to assess the extent of conflict and danger perceived by them in their marital relationship, besides the communication apprehension experienced towards their partners were administered. Analyses showed that the wives of alcoholics as a group had higher levels of conflict, perceived more danger and experienced more apprehension in relating with their spouses, than the subjects of the reference group. Results indicate the need to consciously focus on the spouse of the alcoholic and to help her resolve various marital issues with which she is faced. Implications for therapeutic intervention with couples in alcohol complicated relationships to enable them overcome their marital life deficits are discussed. This study was funded by the University Grants Commission of India. An erratum to this article can be found at     

The Time Course of Repeat Intimate Partner Violence

This study examines the time course of repeat victimization by assessing whether the opportunity for victim/offender contact influences the time lapse between successive incidents of intimate partner violence. Several measures of opportunity for victim/offender contact are used, including cohabitation, co-parenting, restraining order status, and victim unemployment. The study finds that some victims (i.e., those who live with the offender) are at risk of repeat victimization in a shorter period of time than other victims. However, the study yields conflicting findings about the relationship between other opportunity variables (i.e., co-parenting and victim unemployment) and the time lapse between successive incidents of intimate partner violence. Policy implications are discussed and suggestions are offered for future research on repeat intimate partner violence.     

Risk and Protective Factors for Recurrent Intimate Partner Violence in a Cohort of Low-Income Inner-City Women

The purpose of this study was to identify longitudinal predictors of any (versus no) episodes of recurrent intimate partner violence (IPV) and their severity among low-income inner-city women. A secondary analysis was conducted on data from an inception cohort of 321 previously abused women from the Chicago Women’s Health Risk Study. In a multivariable logistic regression model, pregnancy, frequency of IPV in the year prior to the baseline interview, and the partner’s use of power and control tactics increased the odds of recurrent IPV during the follow-up period and leaving an abusive partner reduced the odds. In a multivariate proportional odds logistic regression model, partner violence outside the home was associated with higher severity of recurrent IPV, but leaving an abusive partner was not. The results suggest that, for low-income women, leaving an abusive partner may reduce the risk of recurrent victimization without increasing severity of the recurrent attacks that do occur.     

Why Victims of Intimate Partner Violence Withdraw Protection Orders

While reasons for returning to abusive partners have received considerable attention in research on intimate partner violence, few studies have examined the reasons why victims fail to follow through with the protection order process, regardless of whether or not they return to their abusive partners. Fifty-five women who were in the process of withdrawing a protection order against a male intimate partner were surveyed in the present analysis. Recognizing that reasons given for withdrawing a protection order often follow common themes, individual responses were organized into several “domains,” or groupings of such reasons. The most commonly cited domain involved a “concrete change” on behalf of the victim or defendant, which made the protection order less necessary in the victim’s view. This was closely followed by the domain addressing emotional attachment to the abuser. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

Characteristics of Callers to the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men

Intimate partner violence (IPV) by women against men has been the subject of much debate. Feminists typically argue that IPV is committed only by men against women. Others argue that violence is a human problem and women also commit much IPV. To resolve these debates, IPV has been classified into two categories: common couple violence captured by population-based studies, and patriarchal terrorism, captured by studies of battered women. This typology ignores male victims of extreme IPV. The current study addresses this omission by describing 190 male callers to the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men. All callers experienced physical abuse from their female partners, and a substantial minority feared their wives’ violence and were stalked. Over 90% experienced controlling behaviors, and several men reported frustrating experiences with the domestic violence system. Callers’ reports indicated that their female abusers had a history of trauma, alcohol/drug problems, mental illness, and homicidal and suicidal ideations.

Toward a Balanced Approach: Defining Police Roles in Responding to Domestic Violence

Responding to domestic violence poses unique challenges to law enforcement officers. Prior research has focused on issues such as officer safety and arrest policies but overlooked a critical component—the officers’ perception of their role in responding to domestic violence incidents. This study explores how police officers define their roles through the use of focus group interviews with detectives assigned to a domestic violence unit. Findings include the identification of three role perspectives. Recommendations for a more balanced approach of these role perspectives in responding to domestic violence crimes through the use of more effective training, supervision, and evaluation are proposed.     

Social Disadvantage and Family Violence: Neighborhood Effects on Attitudes about Intimate Partner Violence and Corporal Punishment

Social disorganization theory asserts that neighborhood composition affects levels of violence within the community. The purpose of this article is to analyze the bivariate effects of social disorganization, crime, and collective efficacy, in addition to the individual factors of gender, race, and a history of child maltreatment, on the acceptance of using violence within the family. Data from the Norfolk Police Department (2000–2004), 2000 Census, and 2006 Norfolk Residents’ Attitudes about Crime Survey were used to determine differences in approval of family violence. Results indicated that approval for family violence is an individual-level phenomenon as well as a community-level occurrence. Various aspects of family violence elicit different levels of tolerance by both micro- and macro-level characteristics. Implications are discussed.     

A Pre-Trial Domestic Violence Intensive Supervision Unit: Exploring Case Seriousness and Successful Disposition

This study measures the seriousness of domestic violence cases from the population of cases (N = 96) sentenced to a pre-trial domestic violence intensive supervision unit in one county probation office in Florida from April 1, 2006, to April 30, 2007. No significant differences were found in seriousness across sex, self-reported drug use, or attorney type. Furthermore, no relationship was found between the number of special conditions imposed by the court and the seriousness index value for a case. However, non-Whites had a significantly higher mean case seriousness index than Whites. Findings suggest that using the seriousness index presented in this study, some of the cases examined were not serious enough to warrant being sentenced to the pre-trial domestic violence intensive supervision unit. Implications for future research, including the use of lethality assessments, are addressed.     

Female Domestic Violence Toward Male Partners: Exploring Conflict Responses and Outcomes

The general purpose of this study was to investigate domestic violence within a conflict framework. Specifically, the association between conflict-based, communication response and outcome behaviors and the frequency and severity of female domestic violence towards male partners was examined. Participants were 153 female volunteers who reported on a range of communication responses and outcomes for both self and partner. The contribution of relationship distress was controlled for and also examined as a moderator. Relationship distress was not found to be a significant moderator. Results showed that seven communication response variables and four outcome variables were significantly associated with the frequency and/or severity of female domestic violence. Relative to nonviolent relationships, relationships with female violence had more male and female unilateral verbal aggression, more mutual verbal aggression, more male verbal aggression/female calms things down, more male demand/partner withdraw, more mutual avoidance, and less constructive relative to destructive communication. Relationships with female violence also had poorer resolution of problems and more emotional distance after problem arguments and discussions than their nonviolent counterparts.     

The End of Domestic Violence

In this article, I examine the rationales that have been given for extending domestic violence legislation to associated persons. I argue that the empirical and principled rationales are unfounded and that the ideological rationale is reactionary. With regard to the empirical rationale, the extent of violence that the aggregate of associated persons suffers is not high enough to justify privileging associated persons over other citizens with regard to protection from violence. In relation to the principled rationale, the impetus for domestic violence legislation was based on isolation and inequality, which are not experienced in particular by the category of associated persons when taken as a whole. With regard to the ideological rationale, it is worrying that intimacy and equality are emerging as the touchstones of a newer rationale for domestic violence legislation, which rightly has more to do with isolation and inequality than intimacy and equality.     

Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence Among Married Women in the Military: Type, Level, Directionality and Consequences

While separate evidence exists that married military women have high rates of both intimate partner violence victimization and aggression, little is known about the context of this violence, including the extent to which the violence committed toward and by military women is physical, psychological or sexual, whether the violence is unilateral or bi-directional, and the extent of injury sustained or inflicted. In order to gain a more multi-dimensional understanding of the violence in the lives of military women, this study involved 248 enlisted females who completed a self-report survey about themselves and their spouses’ behavior. Results indicate that the majority of violence reported was bi-directional and symmetrical in terms of type and level of severity. However, enlisted females were more than three times as likely to be victims of unilateral severe violence as their male civilian spouses. Demographic factors associated with these patterns of violence were also identified.

Domestic Violence and Children’s Presence: A Population-based Study of Law Enforcement Surveillance of Domestic Violence

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to test whether law enforcement officers could reliably use a standard protocol to collect data on domestic violence events (DVEs) across a large municipality, and (2) to use these data to examine prevalence and nature of the violence and children’s presence. Reliability checks indicated that data were collected reliably on over 5,000 substantiated DVEs. Findings showed that 48% of all assaults in the municipality were DVEs. Victims were predominantly females in their early thirties, and injuries were predominantly minor and resulted from body contact. Children were present in nearly 50% of the DVEs. They were disproportionately present in domestic violence households compared to all other households in the municipality. Domestic violence households with children were more likely to have mothers and fathers involved in the violence and were disproportionately minority households headed by single females in relatively poor neighborhoods.     

Domestic Violence Service Users: A Comparison of Older and Younger Women Victims

No one, young or old, is immune to interpersonal violence (IPV). Female victims come from a variety of circumstances and across all ages. However, much of the research and services have focused almost exclusively on younger women. This article compares women 65 and older to women under 65, who utilized domestic violence (DV) services in a mid-western state over a five-year period. Although there are many similarities in the findings, differences include that older victims were more likely to be White, report more emotional and less physical abuse, be referred to services by a legal source, have special needs or disabilities, and receive fewer services, less service hours and fewer contacts than younger victims utilizing DV services. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Perpetration of Gay and Lesbian Partner Violence: A Disempowerment Perspective

Gay men and lesbians may experience domestic violence at rates as high as, or higher than heterosexuals, yet there is a noticeable absence of empirical research investigating this phenomenon. This study investigated same-sex partner violence from a disempowerment perspective to determine the influence of (a) individual characteristics, (b) family of origin factors, and (c) intimate relationship factors. A sample of 77 individuals in distressed relationships (40 gay men and 37 lesbians) were administered a series of quantitative measures in our project office. Data primarily were analyzed using two-way ANOVAs (gender×perpetrator of violence). The greatest number of differences between perpetrators and nonperpetrators was found in individual characteristics. Implications for practitioners working with gay men and lesbians experiencing partner violence are discussed.