ABSTRACT
Violence in families re-emerged as a social problem in the United States in the 1960s, launching debates over the social and legal control of spouse assault. The expansion of governmental regulation of family relations was aimed in part at concerns about violence among spouses and intimates. Social control through therapeutic interventions was promoted by mental health professionals. Social control through law most often occurred through criminal justice intervention that made salient the risks and costs of spouse assault. Social control theorists beginning with Durkheim have concurred that social norms were not simply imposed on individuals by societal structures or processes. The theoretical basis for social control through legal sanctions rests squarely on deterrence theory. The transfer of social control from legal authorities to women in violent relationships assigns control of legal sources of social control to victims. The social control of spouse assailants through treatment interventions developed within a framework that combined legal coercion with social control.
