Domestic violence is a willful behavior where one person controls the other, which can take the form of abuse, intimidation, or assault. This behavior is systematic that can sometimes include psychological or objective violence. In domestic violence, the pattern of control and power is always perpetrated by one intimate partner against another, but the severity and frequency of the violence may vary dramatically. It is an epidemic that has affected persons of every community, whether they are from different country, have different ages, sex, religion, gender, economic status or sexual orientation. It has been observed that the victim has to suffer the emotional abuse and controlling behavior from their partners who try to dominate and control them. Domestic violence does not always manifest abuse and physical torture, and in some cases, individuals can suffer psychological torture or emotional maltreatment. Domestic violence can often lead to the death of the victim.
Domestic violence is an endemic problem that has spread to all corners of the world. In early stages of the relationship, it cannot be determined easily whether the person will become abusive, but it intensifies with the time. As the relationship continues, abusers become more controlling and abusive though they may seem perfect and wonderful initially. Abusers mostly start with the behavior like threats, distrust, name-calling and possessiveness etc. They may first apologize for their behavior and try to convince the victim that all their actions are out of love and care. Some examples of the abusive behavior can be: Controlling what the victim is doing, where they go, whom they see; Accusing the victim of cheating etc.
It has also been observed that when victim escapes the abuser, the domestic violence does not end there but it intensifies as the abuser thinks, they have lost a control over the victim. They continue threatening, harassing, stalking or controlling the victim, after the victim escapes. After seeking help, one-fifth of the homicide victims were murdered within two days of obtaining the restraining orders and one-third of them were murdered within the first month.
Literature Review
Multiple academic sources and journals illustrate that domestic violence is becoming a hard nut to crack. The most common type of the domestic violence is the gender-based violence and women are the most affected. Women experience torture from their partners in different ways. At most of the times, they undergo sexual harassment, physical assault, abuse, and rape. Women are affected by the domestic violence, and the negative impacts of the same are also felt by other members of the society. Researchers argue that the fight between parents affect the children to a great extent. The torture and abuse experienced in a domestic setup might affect the life of children as they may develop negative traits and other violent behaviors. Besides, the assault may lead to the divorce of parents and children may experience problems as they may lack the basic needs of their life.
Mental health effects may also be one of the reasons for intimate partner violence. stress. Partners who experience chronic depression have a likelihood of engaging in violent relationships and are said to participate in domestic violence through marital separations, forced sex, childhood sexual assault, negative life events, etc. Women and children are the most affected in such abusive relationships. As a result, battered women experiences post-traumatic stress disorder because of the severe abuse, trauma, and partner dominance that results from physical assault by male figures. Research have also explained the need for more studies that implicates the relationship between mental health problems and domestic violence.
It is important to note both abuse and mental illness can occur concurrently. Some individuals have mental conditions and engage in domestic violence. In the same time, some people experience mental problems but still take good care of their partners and children. Therefore, if more research is not conducted, it will be advisable for people to handle domestic violence and mental illnesses separately.
Sokoloff and Dupont (2005) suggests that the society and the law enforcers have a fundamental role to play in the fight against domestic violence. The members of the society are advised to recognize and analyze the hierarchies and systems that are domineering and in a position to exploit and control individuals. Such systems should be avoided since they create confusion and allow the men to dominate and exploit the females. The society is expected to come up with systems that advocate for fairness and other basic human rights. Furthermore, domestic violence can be controlled through strengthening the criminal justice system. The role of the police in handling domestic violence should be redefined to allow them to deal with the perpetrators. In fact, the police force should be guaranteed the right to enter private premises of individuals suspected to engage in domestic violence. The police force should also have the powers of arresting people that participate in violence. Members of the society should report cases of brutality to the law enforcement officers in the fight against violence. The police and the community should partner and work together in the fight. The police should confide in people who report domestic violence cases and protect them, and this will impact positively in this war.
Effects of Domestic Violence on the Abused, Children and Relatives
Domestic violence has a significant impact on the well-being and health of women both in the immediate and longer term and it continues even after the relationship has ended. The physical effects of the violence are so serious and can have psychological consequences too. An abused women always live in fear, she may become isolated from family and friends and her self-esteem may wear down. It is estimated that one in every four women experiences domestic violence during her lifetime, but most of the incidents are never reported to the police because of protecting children, shame, emotional attachment, financial problems, fear of being killed/or being hurt, or unawareness. Some women may even decide to stay in the relationship, for the sake of the children. They feel that it is important for the children to have a father figure in their lives. Also, when the women do not have the efficient support system, they are frightened to break up the family and continue living in such circumstances only.
The physical impacts of the domestic violence on the women's health may include injuries like cuts, bruises, scrapes and fractures, vision loss, knife wounds, hearing loss, sexually transmitted diseases etc. Longer term impacts may include problems like headaches, back pain, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, eating disorders, smoking, alcohol misuse, seizures, fainting, homelessness, homicide and suicide.
It is estimated that around three to four million children between the age of three and 19 are at the risk of exposure to domestic violence every year. According to US government statistics, 95% of the domestic violence cases have women as victims of the male partners. On exposure to violence in the homes, children have difficulty in learning, they have limited social skills, suffer from severe anxiety or depression, and they exhibit risky, violent and delinquent behavior. In the earliest years of their lives, children are particularly vulnerable. Homes with younger children have more prevalence of domestic violence than those with older children.
The Domestic violence has ever-increasing harm to the children's social, physical and emotional development. Small children and infants develop so much emotional stress that the development of their brains is harmed and sensory and cognitive growth is impaired. They may even suffer from sleep problems, excessive irritability, immature behavior, emotional distress and fear of being alone. The Domestic violence affects the personality and behavior so much that they develop problems like depression, suicidal tendencies, psychosomatic illness, and bed-wetting. Long-term effects on their lives include the problems like criminal behavior, juvenile pregnancy and substance abuse etc. The social development is so much damaged that they do not feel empathy for others. Domestic violence affects the people surrounding the family i.e. the relatives also. The relatives are always worried and try to settle down the situation. Thus, domestic violence has negative effects on the mental and physical growth of women and children.
Mental-Health effects and Domestic violence
Mental health effects may also be one of the reasons for intimate partner violence. The domestic violence is increased with the mental conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress. Abuse is also caused by the partner's mental health condition like depression, anxiety, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), bipolar disorder etc. Abuse and mental illness can happen at the same time. Usually, people who have mental illness can be abusive to their partners also. But, if the partner has mental illness and is abusive also, the mental illness and abusive patterns need to be handled separately by the abusive partner. The abusive partner should take the responsibility to support the person and manage their mental illness. If the abusive partner is not taking any responsibility for his actions, not admitting how much they are hurting their partner, and not taking any professional help, then it's a vital sign that indicates that the abusive partner is not willing to change. In such relationships, the abuse tends to increase and continue with the time.
There are some of the questions that need to be considered and answered in order to ensure whether the partner is doing abuse or abuse with mental illness like Does he hit others outside the relationship, Does he yell at others, Does he verbally assault others, Does he pressurized others to do something they are not comfortable with, Does he threaten others and Does he check others where they are and who they are with. If the answer is no to most of the questions , it indicates that the partner is abusive without any mental illness. Yes indicates that the partner is suffering from some mental illness or health issue and is abusive too.
The most disastrous effect of domestic violence is that it becomes a continuing cycle of violence for the next generation also. Those women are at a higher rate of abuse, whose husbands were abused as children or who saw their mothers being abused. The use of violence becomes a powerful lesson in their interpersonal relationship and they dominate and abuse others. But, the most important thing is that the abuse can never be excused even if the partner does have a mental illness because intimate partner violence has long term negative health impact on the victim even after the abuse has ended. In North America, 40-60% of the murders of women are done by the intimate partners. Forced sex and abuse during pregnancy causes serious mental and physical health conditions in the victims. Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are the most prevalent effects of intimate partner violence.
Abuse is a choice that is made by one partner to maintain control and power over the other. When one of the partners is abusive with/without mental illness, proper steps should be taken to stop that because no one has the right to treat any person that way. A healthy and safe relationship is what all deserves 100% of the time.
Society and Law Enforcers to fight against Domestic Violence
The society and the law enforcers have a fundamental role to play in the fight against domestic violence. The members of the society are advised to recognize and analyze the hierarchies and systems that are domineering and in a position to exploit and control individuals. Any act of domestic violence should be reported to the law enforcement officers by the members of the society as soon as possible to fight against violence. The fight against violence needs to be fought by the community and the police together. It should be stated by the law that the primary duties of police is to protect potential victims and offender's accountability should be promoted by enforcing procedures and laws. All the killings and crimes should be addressed and investigated by the criminal justice system in order to prevent domestic violence.
In order to ensure the above goal is achieved, the police should be authorized by judicial authorization to enter the premises of the abusers, conduct arrest of the abusers, and take charge of all the dangerous substances or weapons. The role of the police in handling domestic violence should be redefined to allow them to deal with the perpetrators. Police should be allowed by law to work in coordination with advocates, criminal justice actors, health care providers, media, child protection services, religious leaders, employers and prosecutors. The police should also trust people who report domestic violence cases and protection should be given to them so that war against domestic violence can be fought effectively.
The victims of the domestic violence encounter police as the first members of the law enforcement system. Thus, police should respond immediately to the cases of domestic violence and remove abusers from the home as soon as possible. In a society where men and women have equal rights, men have no right to abuse their wives. Domestic violence has been defined as a crime by law and so arrest should be made immediately. It is important that special training on domestic violence and honor crimes should be given to the police to dispel any misconceptions. Such training would help in understanding the seriousness of such crimes and would inform law enforcement to thoroughly and promptly investigate such crimes reports.
Conclusion
Domestic violence is one of the most serious problems of the society these days. It is an epidemic that has affected persons of every community, whether they are from different country, have different ages, sex, religion, gender, economic status or sexual orientation. The effects of domestic violence on the physical, mental and social well-being of the victim, their children and family are very serious. Domestic violence does not always manifest abuse and physical torture, but in some cases, individuals can suffer psychological torture or emotional maltreatment too. In a society where men and women have equal rights, men have no right to abuse their wives. So, it is the need of the hour that proper steps should be taken to stop the domestic violence because no one has the right to treat any other person that way. A healthy and safe relationship is what all deserves 100% of the time.
Works Cited
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domesticviolenceroundtable.org. Domestic Violence Roundtable. 2015. 22 March 2016 <http://www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org/effect-on-children.html>.
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ncadv.org. What is Domestic Violence? 2015. 22 March 2016 <http://www.ncadv.org/need-help/what-is-domestic-violence>.
Sokoloff, NJ and I. Dupont. "Domestic violence at the intersections of race, class, and gender: challenges and contributions to understanding violence against marginalized women in diverse communities." Violence against Women (2005): 38-64.
