Understanding and Preventing Violence Volume 1 (1993) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 221-254
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From page 221... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 221 5 Violence in Families Recently, we have come to realize realize that our homes may be as dangerous as our streets. Family violence in its various forms -- spouse assault, elder abuse, sibling violence, child abuse -- is more prevalent than the public or officials ever suspected.
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From page 222... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 222 and counting violent crime. Nowhere in the criminal law and in its administration is the social construction of violent crime changing more rapidly than in what constitutes family violence and society's responses to it.
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From page 223... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 223 Proportionally more of today's children live in households with a cohabiting couple or at least one stepparent. Legally, a cohabitant unrelated by blood or marriage who physically or sexually abuses children in the household is an unrelated person, although programmatically the abuser may be treated as a family member.
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From page 224... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 224 person in the continuing relationship is relatively powerless and more vulnerable to the aggression and violence of the more powerful one. The more powerful victimizer often threatens the victim with additional violence if the incidents of violence are disclosed to others, or the victim may refrain from disclosure anticipating stigmatization and denigration.
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From page 225... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 225 intimates create a climate for even greater underreporting. Frieze and Browne (1989:182)
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From page 226... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 226 domestic violence in the United States. Below we present some crude estimates from currently available information, but there is good reason to conclude that intrafamily violence is substantially underreported.
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From page 227... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 227 spouse abuse (Fagan and Browne, Volume 3) and previously published reviews by Frieze and Browne (1989)
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From page 228... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 228 maltreatment, and over 160,000 children were seriously harmed (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1990: 15)
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From page 229... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 229 next most frequently occurring subcategory of abuse (211,100 children, or 3.4 children per 1,000) and sexual abuse was the least frequent of all three major subcategories of abuse in the NIS-2 study (155,900 cases, involving 2.5 children per 1,000)
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From page 230... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 230 A recent review of domestic violence against the elderly (Pillemer and Frankel, 1988) concludes that only a few findings consistently emerge from these studies of the abused elderly population.
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From page 231... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 231 the principal risk groups. The highly aggregated nature of current classifications of violent offenses masks much of the variation important for understanding the risks involved.
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From page 232... ...
TABLE 5-1 Family Violence, 1989: Victimization Rates by Victim-Offender Relationship and Type of Assault Rate per 1,000 Persons Age 12 and Over Aggravated Assault Simple Assault Characteristic Population Relatives Well Casual Strangers Relatives Well Casual Strangers VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES Known Acquaintances Known Acquaintances Sex Male 96,875,920 0.3 2.2 1.2 7.4 0.5 3.1 3.0 10.3 Female 104,499,700 0.7 1.2 0.6 2.0 2.6 3.6 1.7 4.1 Race White 172,071,010 0.5 1.6 0.9 4.5 1.7 3.4 2.3 7.3 Black 23,378,200 0.4a 2.5 1.3 4.9 1.0 3.4 2.5 5.1 Other 5,926,410 0.4a 1.6a 0a 5.0 2.0a 2.9 0.7a 9.3 Age 12-15 13,256,460 0.5a 4.4 1.6 6.5 1.7 11.2 9.7 14.4 16-19 14,235,270 0.6a 4.9 2.6 13.3 1.8 10.7 7.0 17.2 20-24 18,084,190 1.1 3.1 1.8 9.9 3.9 5.6 4.1 15.7 25-34 43,335,460 0.7 1.7 1.2 5.6 2.6 3.4 2.1 9.1 35-49 50,293,180 0.6 1.2 0.5 3.5 1.5 1.9 1.1 4.6 50-64 32,774,300 0.1a 0.4a 0.2a 1.2 0.4a 0.7 0.3a 2.1 65 and over 29,396,730 0a 0.2a 0.2a 0.6 0.2a 0.2a 0.1a 0.4a 232
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From page 233... ...
TABLE 5-1 Family Violence, 1989: Victimization Rates by Victim-Offender Relationship and Type of Assault Rate per 1,000 Persons Age 12 and Over Aggravated Assault Simple Assault Characteristic Population Relatives Well Casual Strangers Relatives Well Casual Strangers VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES Known Acquaintances Known Acquaintances Marital statusb Married 110,124,950 0.3 0.8 0.5 2.7 0.8 1.1 1.0 3.5 Widowed 13,407,180 0a 0.1a 0.6a 0.4a 0.1a 0.4a 0.3a 0.4a Divorced or 18,786,270 2.3 2.5 2.0 5.7 8.6 5.0 1.4 10.4 separated Never married 58,618,550 0.3 3.5 1.4 8.8 1.2 7.7 5.5 14.2 Family incomec Less than $7,500 20,425,690 0.7a 3.8 1.6 5.5 3.8 6.7 3.1 9.0 $7,500-$9,999 8,374,160 1.0a 2.7 0.8a 4.0 1.7a 6.2 2.5 5.3 $10,000-14,999 19,790,200 0.6a 1.8 1.0 4.8 3.2 3.7 2.5 8.0 $15,000-$24,999 35,690,810 0.5 2.1 1.0 5.1 1.6 4.2 2.7 6.8 $25,000-$29,999 15,302,260 0.4a 1.4 1.1 4.5 1.3 3.8 2.2 7.3 $30,000-$49,999 45,673,340 0.4 0.7 0.6 4.2 1.0 2.2 2.0 7.4 $50,000 or more 28,905,330 0.3a 1.1 0.6 3.9 0.6 1.3 2.1 5.9 a Estimate is based on about 10 or fewer sample cases. b Excludes data on persons whose marital status was not ascertained.
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From page 234... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 234 A number of studies conclude that women who are separated from a spouse or divorced are most at risk of violence and that women who cohabit are more at risk than are those who are married. Available NCS data provide indirect support for this conclusion (Table 5-1)
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From page 235... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 235 partner in spouse assault is consistent, however, with the higher rates of aggravated assault and serious injury for female victims of assault. Child Abuse Although there is a paucity of information on the prevalence and incidence of child abuse, a national profile of risk factors can be derived from the National Incidence Surveys.
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From page 236... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 236 substantially related to family income: the rate of serious injury was almost seven times greater, of moderate harm nearly five times greater, and of probable injury seven times greater for children from lower-income than from higher-income families (Sedlak, 1991a,b)
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From page 237... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 237 violence provides evidence that there is substantial repeat offending among perpetrators of spouse assault (Dunford et al., 1990; Hirschel et al., 1991)
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VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 238 may be the single most common cause of injury for which women seek emergency medical attention. From their investigation of emergency treatment of women in a metropolitan hospital, they report that battered women were 13 times more likely than other women receiving emergency treatment to be injured in the breast, chest, and abdomen and three times as likely to be injured while pregnant (Stark and Flitcraft, 1991:140; Stark and Flitcraft, 1982)
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From page 239... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 239 In a study of 50 mothers and fathers who had abused and neglected their children and lost custody of them by court order, 30 percent of the mothers and 25 percent of the fathers were diagnosed as suffering from major depression. An additional 17 percent of the mothers and 15 percent of the fathers showed clinical signs of a minor depression.
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From page 240... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 240 explanations are partial in one of two senses: either they attempt to explain a single type or a few types of family violence, such as partner assault, or they seek to identify a particular factor or set of variables that account for some of the observed variation in behavior between violent and nonviolent persons or acts. Gelles (1983)
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From page 241... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 241 Major recent changes in family organization and structure may account for some family violence as well. Among those believed to be of significance are changes that affect the social and moral bonding among family members.
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From page 242... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 242 and often subtle ways. They have an unlisted telephone number or no phone, they lack any means of transportation, and their homes or apartments may be physically shuttered from the gaze of outsiders.
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From page 243... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 243 Foster Care Placement A major intervention in child abuse cases is to remove the child from the home and arrange for foster placement. An estimated 15 percent of victims of child maltreatment are placed in an unrelated foster home (American Humane Association, 1979; Runyan et al., 1981)
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From page 244... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 244 interventions. They also concluded that although the nurses can link families to community and social services -- to meliorate the effects of poverty, violence, and drug use -- the lack of employment opportunities in the neighborhoods where these families live poses severe constraints on their improvement efforts.
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From page 245... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 245 some subgroup of the population. For example, in Omaha, Nebraska, the issuance of a prosecutorial warrant for the appearance of an assailant who left the household before the police arrived appears to have had a modest deterrent effect (Dunford et al., 1989)
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From page 246... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 246 strategy preparing them for self-sufficiency and counteracting the isolation and powerlessness that resulted from being abused was the support they got from other women. Formal and informal groups reinforce for an abused woman that she is not to blame, that she can be a nurturing mother, and that she can develop healthy relationships.
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From page 247... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 247 to the incidence of spouse abuse, especially to repeat victimization; tabulations of more information on types of family violence within legal/statistical categories (e.g., disaggregating specific family relationships, capturing sexual assaults on minors)
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From page 248... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 248 • Some jurisdictions consider minors ineligible, even though they may be in a cohabiting or marital relationship that would otherwise qualify. • Most jurisdictions require that an arrest be made if the victim requests it or if the officer regards it as necessary to ensure the victim's safety, thereby excluding those cases from any randomized treatment evaluation.
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From page 249... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 249 presence of at least two persons: the householder and one or more additional family members related to the householder by birth, adoption, or marriage." Any householder living alone or exclusively with persons who are not related are defined as living in a "non-family household." By this definition, all cohabiting couples are excluded from family statistics. Under these rules, to avoid a sex bias, any adult member of the household who responds may be designated as the householder.
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From page 250... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 250 this failure is due to the use of more stringent screening standards when accepting cases for investigation -- standards that have become more restrictive i n the face of an increase in cases reported and a decrease in resources to deal with them. Research is needed to determine what effects this change in eligibility for allocation resources for child protective services may have on the recent gains in the detection and reporting of physical and sexual abuse of children.
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From page 251... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 251 Dobash, R.E., and R.P. Dobash 1979 Violence Against Wives: A Case Against Patriarchy.
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From page 252... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 252 J Gelles, Gerald T
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VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 253 Runyan, D.K., C.L. Gould, D.C.
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From page 254... ...
VIOLENCE IN FAMILIES 254 1991 Marital status and living arrangements: March 1990. Current Population Reports.
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