Domestic Violence In The Criminal Justice System

How battered women are socially stuck in an abusive relationship and how this affects the way they are treated through the criminal justice system.

Domestic violence is a behavioral trait used to establish power and control over a person; the abuser uses fear and intimidation through threats or the use of violence. Other terms for domestic violence include intimate partner violence, battering, relationship abuse, spousal abuse, or family violence. One in four women will experience some type of domestic violence in her lifetime and 4,744,000 women a year are victims to this physical violence (Erez, 2002). Out of all these physical attacks towards women only 25% are reported! When a women is physically harmed by an intimate partner they are known to think it is out of love

It is only recently that domestic violence/abuse has been considered to be a violation of the law. It was towards the end of the twentieth century in the 1970s when domestic violence was considered a crime and justified the criminal justice system to intervene. In class we learned how sexual battery, aggravated assault and assault are all Part 1 offenses. Sexual battery is the intentional and wrongful physical contact with a person, without consent. Aggravated assault is when the abuser inflicts serious injury upon the person of another; they also often know their victims. Assault is when someone inflicts injury upon someone. These three charges are common in the justice system but not when it comes to intimate partner violence. The cases you see these three charges in normally having something to do with public intoxication or fighting in public. Occasionally you will find a case where assault charges were given to the offender between couples where the wife is physically harmed, but it is not likely.