Second Draft- Domestic Violence Research Paper

Domestic Violence

Toya Jones

Devry University

Introduction

Domestic violence is a described as a pattern of threatening or assaultive conduct that an individual uses against another party in a relationship. The relationships are profiled as follows; the victim and the abuser live together, dating, had dated married or are divorced. Most of the violence is intentioned to cause one to cede control or direction to an abuser.

The victims of this kind of violence are people from all segments of the society. Most of the victims of this type of violence are women, though an increasing number of men are falling victim to this type of violence (Harne & Radford, 2008). Statistics on the number of people who suffer this type of violence are hard to come by since most of the violence occurs behind closed doors though experts speculate 1 in 5 women experience it in their lifetime.

According to Harne & Ranford (2008), experts report that the prevalence of domestic violence is on the increase with almost 80% of shelters for domestic violence victims seeking their services in the past 5 years. It was also reported that almost 70 % percent of the women in the shelters stayed longer and this was attributed to mostly economic factors and psychological issues. Comment by Author: Include a thesis statement that states the problem—with some reasons why it is a problem—and your solutions.

Dynamics of Domestic Violence

While economic factors contribute to the domestic violence issue, the trigger for the economic aspect of the problem is a psychological factor that needs to be addressed in order to stem the cycle of domestic abuse. According to Sherman, Schmidt & Rogan (1992), the psychological factor involves an abuser developing a destructive thinking pattern makes them believe they have to be in control of a victim. The abuser could also develop an unhealthy relationship that makes the abuser believe that the victim is responsible for their good fortune or happiness. It is this two underlying psychological factors that create a fertile environment for the vice to be perpetrated.

Most of the victims of domestic violence are women and the abuse traverses all age sets and social spheres. Men account for around 14 % of the victims of domestic violence. The number of men coming out to report violence towards them is on the increase. Johnson & Ferraro (2000), report that this has been attributed to the increased social awareness programs that have broken the societal bounds that men were traditionally associated with before. This rise in the number of men suffering domestic violence has also been attributed to the same sex couples. Same sex couples contributed to 80% of the men who reported suffering from domestic violence. The increased awareness campaign and societal acceptance is the reason for this increase.

According to Tolman & Raphael (2000), societal expectation of men is also a factor that has contributed to the rise in domestic violence. The traditional patriarchal view of men that they are masculine, strong and powerful and that women are subservient to this view makes the risk of violence of such men higher towards women.

There are many agencies are responsible for tackling domestic violence. The police play a very important role in helping deal with the issue. The police have continually been working to improve their response and approaches to dealing with these issues. Gender based organizations have been involved in giving specialized training to police officers. This would help them to recognize the victims of the violence, their response to the violence and building partnerships with other agencies that deal with domestic violence (Tolman & Raphael, 2000). These organizations are also involved in creating awareness campaigns against the vice and setting up help programs for the victims and rehabilitation for the abusers. The organizations are also involved in the getting funding for the domestic shelters for the victims of the violence. They also work together with the health service providers on getting the best treatment to the victims (Johnson & Ferraro, 2000). The organizations are also on the forefront of getting doing research that would give a better understanding of domestic violence issues like its effect on the children of the victims,

References

Sherman, L. W., Schmidt, J. D., & Rogan, D. P. (1992). Policing domestic violence: Experiments and dilemmas. New York: Free Press [u.a..

Harne, L., & Radford, J. (2008). Tackling domestic violence. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Johnson, M. P., & Ferraro, K. J. (2000). Research on domestic violence in the 1990s: Making distinctions. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 948-963.

Tolman, R. M., & Raphael, J. (2000). A review of research on welfare and domestic violence. Journal of Social Issues, 56(4), 655-682.

Toya,

You have some good information here! Let’s now think about how we can push it to a more structured and arguable research paper. The first thing you want to do is have a clear thesis that you can use as a map. That thesis should have your claim, reasons for your claim, and possible solutions. You might say something like “Domestic violence is a big problem that can lead to x, y, z, but we can reduce it by….” (this is a simplified example, but you get the gist).

You would then follow that organization. So first you might talk about the topic in general by giving history/background information, which you have here. Then you want to get into specific reasons why it is a problem. You would do that by explaining the three reasons stated in your thesis statement—a paragraph or two for each reason. After you have that established, you can go on to expand on and justify your solution for the problem.

See my comments throughout and let me know if you have any questions.