Chapter 7 - Stalking and Domestic Violence

Abstract

This chapter explores the identification of domestic violence as a major social, legal, and health problem with the potential to destroy millions of families. Domestic violence has been conceptualized as an abuser's attempt to use physical, sexual, or psychological force to take away a woman's power and control over her life. The studies of damaging relationships have elucidated the dynamics that force their progress until the woman feels like she has become imprisoned. Most battering relationships do end in divorce, often putting the woman at the highest risk for further harm or actual death from the point of separation to about 2 years postdivorce. Stalking is the name given to a grouping of behaviors that batterers do to keep the relationship between themselves and their partners from being detached. The battered woman's checklist presented in this chapter often helps a battered woman or her family and friends to evaluate whether there is abuse in the relationship. The mandatory reporting laws for domestic violence and subsequent court ordered treatment programs in the United States have recently provided better access to the understanding of abusive men.