Spusel Abuse

Domestic violence is a serious issue in today's society that is often overlooked. It affects people of all ages, races, and sexes, yet still many people know nothing about it. There are many different types of domestic violence in families. They include: child abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse. All of which are very traumatic for the victims involved. In many homes across America, these types of abuse are taking place.

Child abuse is one of the top types of violence that is often left unknown. The reason it is never reported is because often, the child being abused is scared to tell an authority. In many cases the abuser would threaten the child. In other cases the abuser would tell the child that it was their fault they are being beaten. Some cases of child abuse are taken to the extreme, and a child could end up dead.

The second type of domestic violence in families is emotional abuse. This is where one person in the family verbally abuses someone else. They would say things that would lead the person to believe they are worthless or not good enough. This type of abuse causes no physical harm but is very damaging to the victim's self-confidence, and mental process. There are not a lot of people that report these types of abuse cases because they are usually not sure of what type of abuse is occurring.

The third and final type of domestic violence, which I will be discussing, is physical abuse in a relationship. It is where one person, usually a male, is physically beating their partner. It is important to remember that in these cases women are not the only victims of physical abuse. Men are also victims at times. This may seem unlikely because men are usually the taller and stronger of the two. In one survey 18.6% of the men interviewed reported being abused by their spouse, while only 12% of the women interviewed reported being abused by their spouse ("American"). This was basically saying no matter what sex, age, or race you are, you can still be a victim of domestic violence. In this paper I am writing about how women are the victims in most cases of spousal abuse, and give some history back round about spousal abuse, and the road it traveled from being overlooked to taking center stage.

There are many staggering statistics related to spousal abuse. A woman is beaten every nine seconds in the United States. Domestic violence is the most under reported crime in the country. Nearly one-in-three adult women experience at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood. "Forty-seven percent of men who beat their wives/girl friends do so at least three times in their life time" ("American").

Spousal abuse is a big issue in the United States. There is much controversy as too how much violence actually exists in America, most of it takes place behind closed doors, but surely we have a problem with the issue as it is reported that almost 4% of American families experienced severe physical violence of a degree that had the probability of inflicting injury or death upon the victim (Cross). This 4% may seem like a small figure, but it equals to four million victims. Another statement they make is that "1 in 3 women will be assaulted by a domestic partner in her lifetime." (Cross).

The same source states" 92% of all domestic violence incidents, crimes are committed by men against women" ("American"). Truly this issue is unacceptable in a civil society such as ours. Domestic violence, when most people hear that term thinks of husbands assaulting wives. Violence is more likely to happen against women than men. Another fact left in the corner when discussing domestic violence, is how much occurs between high school boyfriends/girlfriends. Stats indicate that 1 in 10 high school students have experienced physical violence in dating. The number rises to 22% for college students (Cross).

The process of shelters for women who had been abused was a long and bumpy one. In the mid-70s, battered women's shelters were just beginning, and the main focus was developing services for the victims. In 1977 Dr. Daniel Jay Sonkin started calling the local battered women's shelters. Six months later he finally got a return call from a director of one of the shelters. After meeting with a director, they realized there was a mutual need they could provide for one another. In order for Dr. Sonkin to get experience with counseling batterers, the director allowed him to attend hotline training sessions.

The shelter needed something to do with all the male abusers calling their hotline, and looking for their spouses who may have been a resident of their shelter. After attending hotline training, the shelter would refer all phone calls from the men to him. The phone calls started flooding in to Dr. Sonkin. Most of the calls were crisis intervention counseling in nature. The phone counseling led to one-on-one counseling. Most of Dr Sonkins' knowledge came from alcohol and drug treatment. He utilized whatever behavioral and cognitive interventions seemed to fit each situation. It was believed the violence was not just an individual or family problem, but a social problem most men battled with.

Also during the '70s, the battered women's movement began to focus attention on the criminal justice system as being one solution to the abuse problems America were facing. Up until this time, mediation, and counseling was the typical way these cases were handled. Law enforcement viewed domestic violence as a family problem, not a criminal problem. People turned their attention to reforming the police and the courts. California, as well as other states, passed pretrial diversion laws to begin addressing domestic violence as serious criminal problem. The courts mandated male batterers into counseling, or education programs, and if they successfully completed the programs, their record would be cleared. Dr. Sonkin felt the programs and counseling were good for its time, primarily because battered women had almost no protection from the criminal justice system. The downside to this was that it was only offered to misdemeanor defendants, and many felony charges were reduced to misdemeanors to give the batterer the option of treatment rather than jail time.

In the 1980s more funding was becoming available for treatment programs aimed at the male abusers. The number of research studies focusing on the male abusers dramatically increased during this decade. During the highest point of popularity to date, supporters started to fight amongst themselves on which was the "right" way to treat the male abuser. During the '80s there was more pressure on the criminal justice