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Domestic Violence Case Study

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With more than ten million men and women being abused by an intimate partner in the United States each year, domestic violence remains a pressing issue in our society. Historically, domestic violence was seen as something that should be kept between and resolved by the feuding couple rather than an issue of criminality. Today, those views have changed, and it is now an issue that is dealt with in legal aspect. In this paper, I will address the mentality that judges and juries hold that perpetuate the cycle of violence among intimate partners, as well as sentencing disparities between domestic violence and violence outside of familial/intimate relationship contexts. While there is a significant occurrence of domestic violence against men, for …show more content…
How is a husband beating his wife less serious of a crime than a man who beats up a stranger? In their article “Similar Punishment? Comparing Sentencing Outcomes in Domestic and Non-Domestic Violence Cases,” Christine Bond and Samantha Jeffries (2014) found that “[d]omestic violence offenders in statistically similar circumstances were significantly less likely than those convicted of violent offences outside of familial/intimate relationship contexts to be sentenced to prison… In addition, if incarcerated, domestic violence offenders received significantly shorter terms.” The criminal justice system’s view of female victims plays a significant role in this sentencing discrepancy. In general, it is difficult for someone who has never been in an abusive relationship to understand why women decide to stay in these kinds of relationships. Because they do not understand this aspect of domestic violence, law enforcement officers and judges can grow tiresome and frustrated by working with the same victim time and time again (Epstein, 1999 (PG 699)). This can cause law enforcement officers, judges, and juries to assign blame to the victim for the abuse or believe that the abuse is not as serious as the victim has made it out to be since she has not left her abuser …show more content…
Unsurprisingly, they found that women were more likely to focus on the seriousness of the violence and treatment options for the offenders, and men were more likely to justify their shorter sentences by “explaining that his son needed his father at home” (Fradella & Fischer, ). This explanation by the male participants of this study negates the effect that domestic abuse has on a child. It is known that those who experienced abuse at a young age are likely to repeat that same behavior once they reach adulthood, and this mentality just perpetuates this vicious cycle. Further, those in the study who were given access to information regarding the effects of domestic violence on victims and their children were more likely to assign sentences to defendants that placed the safety and welfare of the woman and child first (Fradella & Fischer, ). This highlights the importance of education and training that should be provided to law enforcement, judges, and juries who are involved in domestic violence cases. There are many myths about domestic violence that many buy into because they do not know any better. When the safety and welfare of an innocent person or child is put in jeopardy, it is important that those who are responsible for providing that safety is knowledgeable and able to

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