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Essay on Domestic violence and its Effects on Society
Domestic violence in theory, recognized as 'real' crime, and the fact that it typically occurs in the home does not deflect from its status as a criminal offence.Domestic violence is a relatively neutral-sounding phrase that covers some not very neutral behavior: being hit, having things thrown at you, being pushed around, or otherwise being brutalized by those you are either living with or related to. Most often, domestic violence means being beaten up by those you love.
Domestic violence can happen to anyone at any time. Domestic violence does not respect age, gender, or sexual preference. Parents have hit their children, children have beaten up their parents, wives have knifed husbands, husbands have battered wives, brothers have hacked away at sisters, and sisters have thrown countless objects at brothers. Cousins, uncles, aunts, live-in mates, girlfriends, boyfriends--all have been party to or victims of domestic violence.
Domestic violence is a widespread reality in American society. A national survey of more than two thousand families in 1975 found that over 10 percent of all respondents surveyed reported at least one incident of husband to wife abuse or injury during the previous year, and the researchers estimated that over two million women had been severely beaten by their spouse. Ten years later, a replication of the 1975 study found fairly similar rates of domestic violence against women. Even more disturbing, research on long-term exposure to domestic violence suggests that almost 30 percent of all women will experience physical abuse and injury by a male partner sometime during their lives.
Finally, research also indicates that domestic violence is rarely an isolated event; once a woman is victimized, she faces a high risk of being victimized again.Over the fifteen years, there has been a growing societal response to domestic violence. For example, between 1975 and 1980, forty-four states passed legislation on domestic violence......
