criminal

Abuse of Parents by Adolescents When teenagers batter their parents, the fathers and mothers tend to feel ashamed and usually wish to keep the matter private, so severe underreporting confounds attempts to estimate the scope of the problem. In many cases, the use of force directed at parents can be seen as retaliation for the […]

THE REDISCOVERY OF OTHER VICTIMS OF BEATINGS When violence in intimate relationships began to be recognized as pervasive, several other rediscov- eries became inevitable. First, battering can emerge during dating and courtship, when the ties that bind the couple are not so strong. Second, violence by adolescents can be directed at their parents. Third, adults

Arguments Emphasizing That the Brutal Man Provoked the Lethal Response Victim-blaming arguments proceed from the prem- ise that the departed was responsible for his own demise. The wife or girlfriend who emerged as the victor was reluctant to fight at the outset. In his final moments, however, the husband or boyfriend became a casualty because

Intimate Partner Homicides and the Criminal Justice System When a battered woman kills her batterer, the pub- lic reaction at first seems hard to fathom: A signifi- cant part of the victims’ rights movement is deeply concerned about the plight of these “murderers.” For decades, the movement has raised money to pay the fees of

VICTIM PROVOCATION AND MURDER: WHEN IS THE SLAYING OF A WIFE BEATER JUSTIFIED? A sergeant in a crime scene unit, known as a “nice guy” and “family man” who coached Little League and was active in his church, retires from the police department after 20 years of service. But on the morning after he breaks

THE REDISCOVERY OF BATTERED HUSBANDS AND BOYFRIENDS The attention paid to wife beating led inevitably to the rediscovery of husband beating. Starting in the late 1970s, several social scientists began to challenge the stereotype that men almost always were the initiators of violence and the obvious victors in lovers’ quarrels. They reported that their data

Battered Women and the Criminal Justice System: Violence Is Violence or Is It? A woman is beaten by her husband hundreds of times. She divorces him and then testifies against him in court. He is sent to prison and vows to get even with her some day. A note is placed in his file that

Enabling Victims Who Feel Trapped to Escape From its start, the highest priority of the battered women’s movement has been to provide tangible aid at a time of great need. To offer immediate support to victims during a crisis, activists estab- lished shelters as places of refuge. In 1974, follow- ing the lead of feminists

Explaining Intimate Partner Violence: Why Does not She Just Leave Him? In criminology, an offender-oriented question would be, “Why does he beat her so viciously?” A victim-centered question that is often asked is, “If he is so brutal, then why does she put up with it and stay with him?” Until the 1970s, this compli-

Fatal Attractions: Slayings of Intimate Partners A married couple is walking down a suburban street when a man accosts them, shooting the 27-year-old wife to death and wounding the 26-year-old hus- band. He tells the police that three men shouting ethnic slurs were the killers. But the wife had recently texted her brother that she