ABSTRACT
There are many reasons why domestic violence doesn’t strike the chord that it should as a serious form of violent crime. It is difficult to ignore the fact that most victims are women-and children, by extensionin pondering this question, and misogyny and patriarchy play a central role in the dismissive attitude that pervades the issue. The fact that many people see domestic violence as an extension of “fighting” between intimate partners that perhaps got out of hand no doubt adds to the attitudinal malaise. Moreover, the familiar “this-is-none-ofmy-business” or “she must have done something to make him angry” belief system isolates her and allows the violence to go undetected in many cases, which lends itself to statistical underreporting as well as the public simply not seeing intimate violence when it might be happening right before them.1 Reporting is further hampered by legitimate fear on the part of the victims, who may view police involvement as too risky. Despite problems with reporting, domestic violence calls are still the largest category of calls made to the police.2 Also, for many women, leaving her abuser is the most dangerous thing she can do, so her choice is to stay and live with the violence and abuse or leave and run a much greater risk of being killed by her abuser.3
