WHAT IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?

An understanding of a view of domestic violence in the United States can be found by looking at the Report from the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence. The page starts with the following statements:

• Between 2 and 4 million women annually are victimized by domestic violence.
• In 1991, at least 21,000 domestic violence crimes against women were reported to the police every week.
• Approximately 35% of women visiting hospital emergency rooms are there because of injuries sustained as a result of domestic violence.
• An estimated 87% of children in homes in which domestic violence occurs witness that abuse and suffer secondary psychological effects, including aggressive behavior and depression. Male children who witness abuse are likely to become abusers themselves as adults, creating a vicious, intergenerational cycle of violent behavior.

This suggests that domestic violence is viewed very narrowly as domestic violence by men towards women. There is also significant domestic violence in the United States by women towards men, and women are also significant abusers of children. Supporting evidence for this can be found here.

It is hard to see how the Commission can report in a balanced manner, given its restricted perspective which is inconsistent with official United States data and other research.

Stuart Birks

14 April, 1996