University of HUDDERSFIELD University of Huddersfield Repository Walker, Julia and Gavin, Helen Interpretations of domestic violence: defining intimate partner abuse Original Citation Walker, Julia and Gavin, Helen (2011) Interpretations of domestic violence: defining intimate partner abuse. In: The 12th Conference of the International Academy of Investigative Psychology. Crime, Criminalistics & Criminal Psychology: New Directions in Investigative Behavioural Science, 31st March-2nd April 2011, Amsterdam. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/11786/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: · The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; · A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and · The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: E.mailbox@hud.ac.uk. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/
INTERPRETATIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: DEFINING INTIMATE PARTNER ABUSE JULIA K WALKER & HELEN GAVIN UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD Domestic Violence (DV) is a global phenomenon affecting entire societies directly and indirectly; yet, after decades of research no single definition describes this phenomenon satisfactorily. Current official and unofficial definitions of DV have a tendency to intersect with other types of violence, obscuring understanding and creating ambiguity. This can impact on the reliability and validity of research and create shortfalls in policies and practices aimed at tackling DV. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to examine characteristics of DV, by deconstructing contemporary definitions, in order to establish a framework that can be adopted to assist in the development of a universal definition that is unambiguous and applicable comparatively across gender, sexuality, ethnicity, culture, religion and socioeconomic status. In order to accomplish this, the multitude of terminologies used synonymously with DV will be discussed to determine the most applicable term together with implications for policy, practice and future research. Introduction Victims, and children exposed to DV are the most directly affected, often experiencing long term pathological problems, such as anxiety and depression, as a result of their exposure. A large proportion of the costs incurred through DV are subsidized by public monies, demonstrating the indirect impact of DV on the wider society. The estimated annual cost of DV services such as policing, shelters, legal aid, counselling, health care, social services and rehabilitation of offenders in 2008 was £15.7 billion in England and Wales (AGO, 2009); AU$13.6 billion in Australia (Australian Government, 2009), and estimates for America showed US$37 billion expenditure in 2007 (NCADV, 2007). Contemporary acknowledgement of DV was brought to the public's attention by the women's movement in the 1960s; originally referring to it as 'wife beating', feminists