Ericka Escobar

RWS 1302
March 23, 2016
Domestic violence literature review
Not many victims can easily talk about their story very easily because it may bring them
memories they wish they could forget or wish never happened. Though many can think this is a
rare issue that happens, they can be wrong. They may be incorrect because they do not know
what domestic violence is. They might not know about the statistics out there. And we still need
to consider of all the cases that do not get reported to the police. Not only this is common in the
world but it may be one of your friends or neighbor. If you notice anything wrong its your duty
to help someone that is scared to speak up because they might not survive another day. Be their
voice and be their hero, you might save their life. With this information I came up with questions
to break down my community issue. What is domestic violence? Is domestic violence common
around the world? What country or city is it more common? Consequences as going to jail and
damaging your spouse/children mental health and possible physical health worth it? Speaking up
the first time it happens is the best way to improve and fix the problem. You do not need to think
it might not happen again. You need to think of your future and report it.
Lets start with what is domestic violence. To many first thing that comes to my mind when they
hear domestic violence is physical abuse. But it also includes sexual violence, psychological
violence, and emotional violence. According to the ncadv.org domestic violence is one partners
consistent efforts to maintain power and control over the other. It is not as easy to know you are

in an abusive relationship, not many can diagnose those early stages as a professional
psychologist can.
The national coalition against domestic violence has a website that will give you many statistics
for you to see how serious and common this issue is. It does include both men and women
statistics. Many think domestic violence can only happen to women but that is wrong. The
statistics are lower than women statistics because many think men will be more ashamed than
women to accept or report that they have been abused. One out of three women and one out of
four men are victims of violence by an intimate relationship. A lot of people think if they are
being abuse then why dont they just leave. But I say if you havent been in those situation then
you cant judge someones decisions. They are a lot of reasons why they decide to put up with
the violence in their household. So why do women and men put up with it for so long or forever?
My next source is a website as well domestic abuse project, which explains and gives many
reasons why they stay, these are some points it makes. Its not that simple for them to leave if
they have fear of the partners actions after she or he leaves them, the effects of abuse may make
it difficult to leave, a women may have concerns about her children, a victims personal history
may have shaped her attitude toward abuse in relationship, some victims are taught it is their job
to maintain the relationship and support their partners so they may feel guilty about leaving or
feel they have failed. And I feel the two most common reasons why they stay is because of their
economically issues and religion/culture. To go more in deep in economically reason is that the
victim may be dependent on their partners or vice versa. The culture the victim might be in sends
the message that a womens value depends on her being in a relationship, which basically women
without partners tend to be devalued. On each point it goes more in deep and explains it more,
which gets you thinking, if you were in that situation you might use this one too. This website is

very helpful to those who are in fear to speak up or just needs someone to talk to. This website
has a phone number known as a hotline to which can be used Monday thru Friday.
According to the organization of aardvark.org the side effects to the victim after the domestic
violence would be depression, posttraumatic disorder which can be flashbacks, intrusive
imagery, nightmares, anxiety, emotional numbing, and insomnia, hyper- vigilance, and avoidance
of traumatic triggers. This can also influence your children and have an impact on how marriage
or a healthy lifestyle and household should be. There is cases where oppressor do this because in
their household they were influenced to act that way. The side effects that I listed above are the
lucky ones who get help but those who dont get help on time the side effect for them is
paralyzation or even worse death.
The street directory website wrote an article of the severe consequences of domestic violence. It
mentions on how we all might have an idea of what domestic violence causes to the victim but
people really do not mention or know what the legal convictions and the consequences to the
oppressor. This article really surprised me on how true that was. Im gladly to say there is a lot of
consequences that can happen to the oppressor. The first one is of course jail time, prison time,
fines, mandatory classes, and criminal protective order. It can also affect the loss of employment
opportunities, not many want to hire someone with domestic violence on their record, and it
might look bad for the company or cause any additional problem during office hours. Also the
denial or revocation of a state license to start your own business, the loss of the right to own a
gun, loss of immigration status, and an increase in the amount of spousal support paid. Or it can
also be the opposite, you can lose the right to collect spousal support. If children are involve the
court decides if you lose child custody or visitation rights, it all depends whats best for the
minor children. An automatic extension to a foreign spouse and his or her children to remain

within the country and an increased obligation to support them, a crime of moral turpitude which
means the oppressor credibility can be called into question when testifying. An unequal division
of property. And my favorite one is a civil lawsuit by the victim spouse, its basically a lawsuit to
get a large amount of compensatory and punitive damages. When I read all this information on
all that can happen to you if you commit domestic violence Im shocked on all severe
punishments there is. You can ruin your life and future if you dont stop or get help.
Not only do civilians go through domestic violence in their life but also famous celebrities.
Everyone has heard of Rihanna and Chris brown case, which was terrible. People have the right
to think just because they are famous they might get it easy in the court room. But that is
incorrect. Some people fought for Rihannas justice. Also a professional super star goalie was
involved in domestic violence to her own sister and her sisters seventeen year old son. At first
she had everyone fooled she was the victim and everyone took her word for it because she had
more credibility than her infamous sister and son. CNN news even has a full interview her
sharing false statements and accusations toward her sisters son. Till one day she had too much to
drink and beat up her son and sister. The seventeen year old called the cops right away, and had
her arrested. Her sister says she didnt want her career so thats why she let it on for so long.
What can we do as a community when we see something wrong with the way the spouse is
talking to the victim or perhaps hitting the victim in public? There has been times where people
have actually spoken up and gotten in the fight to stop it. People call the cops right away and
dont let them leave till helps comes. The fox news showed three men in Woodland Washington
have been in the situation where they acted with no hesitation. They all rushed to save a women
who was getting beaten up at a Walmart parking lot by his spouse. They immediately called the
cops and kept the spouse safe and the oppressor in the ground till the police came.

The show what would you do has done an episode just to see how people would react if they
would see a women get mistreated with a bruised face and not many spoke up to the man
because they were scared he was going to be violent to them and some surprisingly said it wasnt
any of their business to get involved. But the few out there that did do the right thing called the
cops and did not let the man near the girl again.

Domestic violence is very common around the world. The most common continent is South Asia
with forty three percent who have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence. Then
follows Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Arica with forty percent. Latin America and
the Caribbean with thirty three percent. East Asia and the Pacific with thirty percent. Europe and
Central Asia with twenty nine percent. Australia and New Zealand with twenty eight percent.
And North America with the lowest twenty one percent victims who have experienced physical
or sexual intimate partner violence.
We are all a community and we need love and peace in this world. If you dont show it then you
wont get it. By trying to bring this problem out, and try to have awareness. We need to listen to
others be kind and have more concern to the early stages of domestic violence. Get help as soon
as you can get it, because no one wants to hurt the people we love.
To conclude on this community issue these sources I gathered, all bring us on what are you doing
to make this world a better place. Do you treat others with respect and know your place? Can
you make a stand today before its too late? Domestic violence is a topic to take very serious and
report it as soon as possible before anybody gets hurt. Justice needs and will be done to someone
that is hurting people. This issue can be severely bad to the future of yourself or your children.
What if your son adapts to his fathers actions or what if the daughter gets used to that
environment thinking its normal to act certain way? My sources all have people you can contact
if you need to talk and get information from. No one deserves to go through this by themselves.

References
DAP- Domestic abuse project organization http://www.domesticabuseproject.com/geteducated/compelling-reasons-women-stay/
National coalition against domestic violence- http://www.ncadv.org/learn/statistics
Law Lytics Burg DV Defense http://www.dvwashington.com/domestic-violence-consequences
Donald P. Schweitzer 2016
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/13883/legal_matters/the_severe_consequences_of_
domestic_violence.html
National coalition against domestic violence- http://www.ncadv.org/need-help/what-is-domesticviolence
Joyful Heart Foundation 2016 - http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/learn/domesticviolence/effects-domestic-violence
Fox News 2016 - http://www.kptv.com/story/31093880/three-men-rush-to-help-victim-ofdomestic-violence-at-a-woodland-walmart
ESPN Mark Fainaru-Wada, Oct 2, 2015 http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/12976615/detailed-look-hope-solo-domestic-violencecase-includes-reports-being-belligerent-jail
CNN News 2016 - http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/01/29/sot-nr-nfl-domestic-violencesuper-bowl-ad-pizza-911.cnn/video/playlists/head-turning-ads/
What would you do 2013 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TULBmnsFMmQ

Public Health Watch 2015 - https://publichealthwatch.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/new-reportuncovers-staggering-economic-cost-of-domestic-violence/