The Difference in the Perceived Effectiveness of Preventative Measures Against Domestic Violence in the Russian Federation and the United States of America

Abstract

Domestic violence (intimate partner violence, IPV) is a pervasive issue in both the Russian Federation and in the United States. Despite the fact that they both deal with significant levels of both reported and unreported IPV, the two countries have a very different legal approach to solving the issue: the United States has a set of laws aimed at the prevention and punishment of domestic and intimate partner violence, while the Russian Federation does not. The goal of this paper was to determine whether life in a society that does or does not have a functioning domestic violence law affects the perceived effectiveness of various social and public policy (non-legal) preventative measures. For these purposes, six academic articles on the issue from both Russian and American/Canadian research journals were reviewed, a list of strategies that were deemed potentially effective in both sources was compiled, and a questionnaire was structured around it. Afterwards, 12 women from Russia and the United States were questioned on their opinions regarding the selected preventative measures and whether they would be effective or not. Based on their responses, it can be concluded that the perceived effectiveness of educational, cultural and community-based efforts is significantly higher compared to court and police-based efforts, and they are viewed as more realistic in regards to long-term implementation.