There has been a recurrent on the issue of domestic violence in the community for a long period. There are theories of domestic violence that are after the intervention of the feminists. The purpose of the essay is to make an analysis of the theories and evaluate how the early feminist theories taking about domestic violence contradict the early psychological and other family theories. The contradiction in the theories resulted in a rejection that brought about criminal intervention to curb domestic violence. In the paper, there is also a discussion of some of the implications of the prosecutor Laurie Woods and Pauline Gee on the case of Bruno v. Codd and Scott v. Hart on the issue of domestic violence.
Before creating the feminist movement, the majority of researchers were dependent on psychological disorders and the traits of an individual to provide an elaboration as to why men are violent towards the significant other. There were several excuses that society provided, including mental illness, as a contribution to men's violent action. The men were not held responsible for their actions. Instead, they were taken through therapy, and some were given medication (Houston, 2014). The strategy was the solution to domestic violence in the society before the creation of the feminist movement. However, later on, data researchers gave new information that disapproved of mental illness theory and a solution to domestic violence. The data research outcomes indicated that the theorist's predictions were wrong as the number of relationships with domestic violence was very high.
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Another contradiction on mental illness being a solution is whether an individual is mentally ill or not; they don't have the right to participate in violent actions. Most of the research findings indicate that physically abusing their wives did not have a mental illness. Instead, it was out of their own will, and they believed it was the right thing to do. Other researchers indicated that the abusers' behaviors were nothing close to that of a mentally ill individual. The situation is getting worse because the abusers' intervention was not producing the intended outcomes (Houston, 2014). The number of women who were reporting physical abuse cases by men was still increasing and not reducing as it was within the expectations of many people in the community. When a theory does not produce the intended event, the best solution is to make necessary adjustments and changes.
Although the theory was not working properly, other theories were making sense and contributed to domestic violence before the feminist movements. The development of some of the theories was before, after, and during the feminist movement period. One of the theories is disinhibition as a result of alcohol or substance abuse. The theory stipulates that alcohol and substance abuse are the main causes of domestic violence that many women in society were undergoing. Researchers have realized that some domestic abuse is attributed to the fact that men are heavily intoxicated. The theory is more logical and makes sense than the previous ones, but there are still lope holes in it. Some men abuse their wives up to this moment and are not victims of alcohol or substance abuse. Alcohol and substance abuse are indeed the main contributors to the increasing domestic violence, but not all abuses result from the abuser's toxification. Studies indicate that 76% of domestic abuse cases occur without the man is under the influence of alcohol or any other drug (Department of Justice, 2015). Thus, in toxification is not an excuse for engaging in domestic violence.
Contemporary socio-biology and Neo-Darwinism is the other strong theory that is as a result of the feminist movement. The theory talks of men's evolution into aggressive species, and they focus on maintaining female fidelity and aims at having reproductive control. The theory stipulates that society has painted the men as the leaders of the and the ones in authority. It is within the males' responsibility to have control over their households, and the females have the responsibility of obeying and following the directives. They also aim at possessing what they consider to be theirs. Form the theory, and men will possess authority and control by being domestically violent.
There were deep discussions on the family theories during the feminist movements. Researchers perceive the family as a dynamic entity that consists of independent components. The theory's prominent tool is the behavior of a single person in the family and how it impacts the actions and feedback of the other family members. Communication, relationship, and the ability to discuss their issue are the three main dimensions that people observe a couple's relationship (Georgia, 2019). Thus, there is a comparison between violent and non-violent relationships. The notion is that violence is a way of making things function properly within the household. Also, violent behavior was not just a component of the males in a family set-up. Females are also capable of creating violence as one way of controlling their men in the household. The theory places the blame on both the males and the females on the domestic violence that is very rampant. The theory further pushes the idea that women provoke men to start the violence. It is the females' actions that attribute to the tension and the frustration that builds up in the manes and makes them cause violence.
The inability of the United States to prosecute the males that were abusing the females is against the moral values of the society. Scott vs. Hart and Bruno vs. Codd are some of the major cases concerning men's domestic violence towards women. The cases result from women who did not get any help from the police when they needed help from their abusive partners. After setting into action the lawsuit, the women had two main goals. The first aim was to bring changes to some police department policies so that an arrest can be made instantly for the male abusers. Before the case, the police were avoiding to arrest men in domestic violence situations. In the cases, the women had a challenging time elaborating to judge then that domestic violence is against the law (Sturgeon, 2019). They also required some protection by the legal justice system juts like the situation in any other case. The women demanded protection until the abusers were found guilty of the actions. The lawyers that were involved in the case were Laurie Woods and Pauline Gee. With the help of feminist supporters, the lawyers were in a position to convince the judge that women require protection from their abusive partners.
Woods presented a more powerful argument stipulating that the police were not ready to arrest the abusers as they dealt with domestic cases for sexist ideologists. With time the ideologists that men were having were becoming more ridiculous and more sexist. It would not have been fair for an individual to be free after physically abusing another person, and still, criminal justice is not convinced that the action is wrong. The contribution that Pauline Gee made towards the case was her idea to address and take a step-in domestic violence in the United States as a way of bringing all the women together in having the same voice on the matter at hand. The two cases were the turning point that resulted in domestic violence as being a crime in the country. Domestic violence crime and the abusers can be arrested and convicted, and that was the main goal of the feminist movement (Tackett, 2019). The evaluation of the credibility of the sources is based on the year. The sources are within the last five years, and that makes them credible. Some of the sources are peer-reviewed and from trusted organizations such as the United States criminal justice website.
In summation, before the feminist movement's interventions, most of the theories were after supporting and justifying the actions of men in domestic violence cases. Some of the theories attributed that mental illness was the main cause of the behavior, and all that men needed was medications. However, the theory was not yielding the anticipated results, and the abuse rate was still high. Other theories were supporting alcohol and drug abuse as the main cause of domestic violence. But studies show that most of the abusers are not users of alcohol or any other drugs. The feminist movement led to the reconstruction of the theories, and men were convicted of being violent towards women.
References
Department of Justice. (2015). Federal Domestic Violence. Retrieved November 19, 2019, from https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/victim-witness-assistance/federal-domestic-violence .
Georgia. (2019). Georgia Commission on Family Violence. A model prosecutorial protocol for family violence , 1–23. Retrieved from https://gcfv.georgia.gov/sites/gcfv.georgia.gov/files/related_files/site_page/Prosecutorial Protocol for Family Violence.pdf
Houston, C. (2014). How Feminist Theory Became (Criminal) Law: Tracing the Path to How Feminist Theory Became (Criminal) Law: Tracing the Path to Mandatory Criminal Intervention in Domestic Violence Cases Mandatory Criminal Intervention in Domestic Violence Cases. Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, 21 (2), 217-272.
Sturgeon, K. (2019). Cherokee Man Sentenced For 'One Of The Worst Beatings' Of Wife. Retrieved November 19, 2019, from https://patch.com/georgia/canton-ga/cherokee-man-sentenced-one-worst-beatings-wife .
Tackett, M. (2019). Georgia man pleads guilty to assaults in domestic violence case. Retrieved November 18, 2019, from https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/georgia-man-pleads-guilty-to-assaults-in-domestic-violence-case/article_afb0f678-ff7c-11e9-90fb-bf17a26153f3.html .
