Ruby-May Birch Homework
Examine the patterns of and reasons for domestic violence in society (24 Marks)

A definition of domestic violence is given by the Women’s Aid Federation in 2008 is 'physical, psychological, sexual or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. It may involve partners, ex-partners, household members or other relatives.’ Sociologists challenge the view that domestic violence is limited to the behaviour of a few disturbed individuals, they argue that there are sociological explanations for domestic violence, domestic violence is far too widespread to be simply the work of these people. According to the British crime survey domestic violence accounts for almost a sixth of all violent crime also domestic violence doesn’t occur at random but follows particular social patterns and in turn has social causes. There are four types of abuse outlined: partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault and stalking. A shocking pattern in domestic violence is that it is more commonly women than men that experience ‘intimate violence’ across all four types; this was found by Kathryn Coleman et al in 2007. Catriona Mirrlees-Black found similar outcomes when carrying out a survey of 16,000 people in 1999. She found that 99% of all attacks against women were by men, half involved physical injury and 1/4 women have been assaulted by a partner at some point and 1/8 repeatedly so. Other research by Stephanie Yearnshire (1997) concludes that the average woman suffers 35 assaults before reporting anything. Another statistic made by Mirrlees-Black is that 1/7 men are assaulted in relationships and one in 20 repeatedly so. Official statistics are limited