ABSTRACT
Domestic violence (also called family violence) is a global and serious phenomenon. Just to mention the extreme case, the fact is that one is more likely to be murdered by a family member than by anyone else. Yet, much controversy exists about how to define domestic or family violence and its components. Violence may be narrowly defined as “an act carried out with the intention of, or perceived as having the intention of, physically hurting another person” (Gelles & Straus, 1979, p. 554). Of course, “physical hurt” can range from a slight slap to murder. Similarly, the “intent to hurt” can include many forms and degrees of hostility, even the death of the other may be desired. One argument in favor of restricting the definition to patterns that clearly are harmful and not to be tolerated under any circumstances, is that it would ensure that these serious problems are not underemphasized. On the other hand, it has been argued that focusing narrowly on physical violence that clearly causes serious harm is too restricted as a conception because it does not include negative and abusive behaviors like sexual annoyance, isolating and confining the partner from any social relationships, persecution, privation, humiliation, neglect, and psychological and verbal abuse, which may be as threatening as physical violence. The psychological abuse often does not occur clearly and it may have longitudinal and disruptive effects on victims. There are different conceptions and moral codes regarding the degree to which the use of violence in a given situation is legitimized by social norms. The use of physical force may be approved or required by the norms of the society, for example, we should note that the traditional European legal system countenanced wife battering. Until the late twentieth century, domestic violence was not consistently prosecuted because of patriarchal presuppositions. Being assaulted by one’s own husband was considered (and in some degree still is considered) a private matter and not on a par with crime committed by strangers. In fact, a British study finds that domestic violence offenders are less likely than those convicted of crimes outside of domestic contexts to be sentenced to prison.
