DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:
Recognize what domestic violence is.
Display knowledge about domestic violence and statistics.
Explain types of abuse.
Distinguish characteristics of an abuser and a victim.
Give locations for help and resources.
History of Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence is among the oldest crimes known to mankind. Domestic Violence was not outlawed until absolutely cruel things were done to individuals, mostly women and children.
In about 98.9% of all cases, women were the victims of an abusive husband or boyfriend. In medieval times women were whipped and publicly humiliated. The majority of abuses resulted from an abusive background of the abuser or was triggered by alcohol. Alcohol therefore was the main mechanism for much of the violence.
During the early 1900’s, there were no laws in America to prevent abusive alcoholic boyfriends or husbands to mistreat their girlfriends/wives.
During the 1870’s, organizations to help abused children did not exist. It was customary for the victims to take refuge with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). In 1874 in the State of New York, the case of Mary Alec McCormick marked the turning point for child and domestic abuse cases. Mary was abused severely by her mother. The child was “riddled with wounds that would make anyone who saw the child request a lifetime sentence for the abuser.” Someone took Mary to a local judge who was the first to initiate a law prohibiting certain types of cruel punishment to be inflicted to children. This can also be considered a forerunner of today’s children’s rights.
Unfortunately, women’s rights were not recognized in the U.S. till later on in history. Boyfriends and husbands could inflict whatever type of so-called discipline on their female counterparts they deemed appropriate and necessary. In North Carolina, for example, in 1864, the Law gave boyfriends and husbands the right to force control on a so-called “stubborn wife.”
Startling Stats about Domestic Violence
- 31 % of female homicides are committed by the victim's husband, former husband or boyfriend. Just slightly over 3% of male homicide victims are known to have been killed by their wife, former wife, or girlfriend.
I- n 29% of all the domestic violence cases, the offenders are husbands or boyfriends. Surprisingly, friends or acquaintances commit more than half of all rapes.
- Every year more than 5.5 million women are involved in the U.S. in brutal crimes, including 750,000 rapes or sexual assaults.
- The ratio is 5:1 women to men in domestic violence cases. More women seek medical treatment in hospitals and emergency rooms from domestic abuse injuries than from muggings, rapes, and car accidents combined.
- Domestic violence causes 1 in 6 murders and domestic violence is the #1 cause of injury to women in the U.S. This is costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually.
- Nearly 76.5% of men who abuse their wives will also abuse their children.
- One child is abused to death every 4.5 hours in the United States.
- 2/3 of all violent offenders were physically assaulted as children.
- Domestic violence is still the leading cause of injury to females with ages ranging from 14 to 45 in the U.S.
- Pregnant women have a history of abuse from the husband or boyfriend (1 in every 4).
- Most females who have left an abusive background are 76.5% at a greater risk to be assaulted or murdered in comparison to those who stay in the abusive relationship.
- 47.8% of all homeless women and children are on the streets as a direct result of
domestic violence.
