Domestic Violence is known to California attorneys and law enforcement personnel as PC 273.5. It is an extremely common occurrence within households all across the world. Most often the violence is the result of an escalated argument. There are other factors that trigger an individual to engage in this type of behavior as well. Before touching upon the various speculated reasons why domestic violence occurs, however, it’s important to realize just how big of a problem it really is. So, what exactly is domestic violence and how does it affect people in our society?
The California Penal Code defines domestic violence as: “Any person who willfully inflicts upon a person who is his or her spouse, formal spouse, cohabitant, former cohabitant, or the mother or father of his or her child, corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition…”[1] Essentially, this reads that an individual is in violation of PC 273.5 when s/he does something to intentionally inflict injury upon an individual with whom s/he has (or has had) a romantic relationship. This may include current or former spouses or dating partners, a person with whom s/he has lived with, or a relative by blood, marriage or adoption. Of course other charges may apply as well, depending on the severity of injury and other facts in each particular case.
People have very different attitudes about domestic violence. For many of us, whenever we hear about it, we get a feeling of absolute disgust. “How in the world could someone harm the person they’re supposed to be in love with?” Others tend to ignore the issue all together. This is either because they themselves have never been affected by it, or because they put their focus and energy into other issues they feel that they actually have control over. There is another group of people still, a smaller group that has grown to accept violence within the family as a way of life. It is seen as normal to them; an everyday occurrence, like brushing their teeth. These various attitudes toward the issue of domestic violence are undoubtedly developed through an assortment of experiences in each individual’s life. They can also be shaped by what we read and hear. Just like with any other issue, most of our knowledge of what’s going on in our society is largely obtained through news sources. That then provokes thinking, discussion and debate, ultimately shaping our opinion. Unfortunately, the issue of domestic violence isn’t the hot topic in today’s media outlets unless it involves some social icon. We all know that domestic violence is real and that it’s a problem, but the lack of its exposure in headline news may be what’s prevented any meaningful progress on the issue. If people really knew how common of an occurrence this really is, perhaps attitudes would shift and something more would be done about it.
Between 1998 and 2002, the United States Department of Justice gathered data from all 50 states and drew some overwhelming statistics. Across the states, family violence accounted for 11 percent of all reported and unreported violence. Of these roughly 3.5 million violent crimes committed against family members, 49 percent were crimes against spouses.[2] “Some experts estimate that family violence accounts for more than 40 percent of all violent crime calls.”[3] These numbers are absolutely staggering, especially when considering that there are an outrageous number of incidents that go unreported and are never entered into the statistic. In July of 2004, Enrique Gracia wrote an editorial stating that “most of the cases of domestic violence are unreported.”[4]
The California Penal Code defines domestic violence as: “Any person who willfully inflicts upon a person who is his or her spouse, formal spouse, cohabitant, former cohabitant, or the mother or father of his or her child, corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition…”[1] Essentially, this reads that an individual is in violation of PC 273.5 when s/he does something to intentionally inflict injury upon an individual with whom s/he has (or has had) a romantic relationship. This may include current or former spouses or dating partners, a person with whom s/he has lived with, or a relative by blood, marriage or adoption. Of course other charges may apply as well, depending on the severity of injury and other facts in each particular case.
People have very different attitudes about domestic violence. For many of us, whenever we hear about it, we get a feeling of absolute disgust. “How in the world could someone harm the person they’re supposed to be in love with?” Others tend to ignore the issue all together. This is either because they themselves have never been affected by it, or because they put their focus and energy into other issues they feel that they actually have control over. There is another group of people still, a smaller group that has grown to accept violence within the family as a way of life. It is seen as normal to them; an everyday occurrence, like brushing their teeth. These various attitudes toward the issue of domestic violence are undoubtedly developed through an assortment of experiences in each individual’s life. They can also be shaped by what we read and hear. Just like with any other issue, most of our knowledge of what’s going on in our society is largely obtained through news sources. That then provokes thinking, discussion and debate, ultimately shaping our opinion. Unfortunately, the issue of domestic violence isn’t the hot topic in today’s media outlets unless it involves some social icon. We all know that domestic violence is real and that it’s a problem, but the lack of its exposure in headline news may be what’s prevented any meaningful progress on the issue. If people really knew how common of an occurrence this really is, perhaps attitudes would shift and something more would be done about it.
Between 1998 and 2002, the United States Department of Justice gathered data from all 50 states and drew some overwhelming statistics. Across the states, family violence accounted for 11 percent of all reported and unreported violence. Of these roughly 3.5 million violent crimes committed against family members, 49 percent were crimes against spouses.[2] “Some experts estimate that family violence accounts for more than 40 percent of all violent crime calls.”[3] These numbers are absolutely staggering, especially when considering that there are an outrageous number of incidents that go unreported and are never entered into the statistic. In July of 2004, Enrique Gracia wrote an editorial stating that “most of the cases of domestic violence are unreported.”[4]
Domestic violence is a huge problem and is inevitably going to occur no matter what is done, but perhaps it could be minimized with more main-stream attention focused on it. The more awareness and discussion about the issue, the more we will know just how wide-spread this problem is. Victims will know that they aren’t the only ones in such an unfortunate relationship, and may be less reluctant to speak out, thus teaching their abuser that it’s not an acceptable behavior.
[1] California Penal Code: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=1871443940+8+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
[2]U.S. Department of Justice http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fvs.pdf
[3] Strandberg, Keith W. “Reducing Family Violence.” Law Enforcement technology, VOL. 25, No. 1, January 1998, pp. 32-36
[4] http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1732820
