Women Victims of Violence

Throughout most of the world, more often that not, women are usually the victims of violence. In America violence against women is becoming one of the most prevalent problems. Domestic violence occurs in many homes all over the world. As a crime against women, rape is uniquely horrible in its long-term effects. Many claim that victims of violence deserve what they get. According to the book Gender & Crime in the UK most women live their lives in constant fear of being “at risk” for violence. It was stated that women who have been victims of violence end up having a wide-ranging list of health problems. According to statistics, 1 in 4 women may experience violence in their relationships with men throughout their lifetime.

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Throughout most of the world, more often that not, women are usually the victims of violence. In America violence against women is becoming one of the most prevalent problems. It has been shown that most of the men committing these crimes against women are not strangers. They are people whom they live, work and/or socialize with. This seems to be linked to the fact that most men want to be in total control at all times and if for some reason they are put in a situation where they aren’t in total control, then they become violent against their women partners. Domestic violence occurs in many homes all over the world. Usually people have been less likely to report this kind of behavior out of fear of getting their partner in trouble. So they ignore the violence they are facing because they love and care for the person who has been abusing them. Domestic violence in some places is not taking as seriously as in others. Some consider it a “private” issue that should be dealt with in the privacy of their home and are less likely to admit if they have it going on in their lives. This thought alone is absolutely ridiculous and must be dealt with immediately. No woman deserves to go through violence whether it is by their husband or a stranger.
As a crime against women, rape is uniquely horrible in its long-term effects. The distress it brings is often followed by an abiding sense of fear and shame. Research on risk factors examines the complex relationship of social, cultural, situational, interpersonal, and intrapersonal forces that perpetuate sexual violence. How ever, some researchers have tried to determine whether particular women are more vulnerable to rape and attempted rape. It has been shown that most women who are rape before the age of eighteen are more likely to be rape as an adult just because their self esteem has been shattered and they begin feeling as if they are worthless and of no use.
In most cases it seems as if blaming victims for their predicament with violence is the universal thing to do. Rape victims are more often than not; accused of alluring their attacker, causing them to do what they did. Many claim that victims of violence deserve what they got. Many victims feel that the ways they were treated by the authorities, friends and family was just as bad or worse than the actual situation. In many cases it left them feeling alone at the time in which they most needed others. Thus, after a while many women begin to blame their self. They find numerous ways to convince their self that they deserved what ever they got. They usually have no one to turn to, so if there is no other outlet for these women they usually end up turning to alcohol and drugs to rid them of the pain and embarrassment they feel.
Since the 1970’s and the early 1980’s there have been many changes made to the criminal justice system when it comes to dealing with women as victims. Before today, it was not strange for women to be of less importance than there male partner, thus giving him “the right” to punish her when he thought she was not doing as she should. It wasn’t until the women’s movement and the victim’s right movement came along did they take a stand against the criminal justice system, making it mandatory that situations in which men were being violent against women were dealt with right away and not taking for granted. Even though victims would like for police to always arrest on spot, the police sometimes consider the people in which they are dealing with some people may look down on the police for doing this but some may think this is the best way to deal with it. They feel that violence can be described in many ways and not all types of violence should end in arrest; even though some feel that it all should.
These are the overall topics of my paper so I will now begin to compare and contrast each topic and how it relates to the United States and the United Kingdom. They are many differences but there are also many similarities between the two countries.
Gendering the victim: the extent and nature of violence against women
The effects of violence against women
After doing research it seems that violence has been used to describe a variety of different behaviors such as, sexual, physical, and emotional assault, murder; stalking sexual harassment; and prostitution. In recent times, violence against women has begun to draw serious attention; the police today are much less lenient than they used to be. According to the book Gender & Crime in the UK most women live their lives in constant fear of being “at risk” for violence. Whether or not the woman has ever been a victim of violence she is still more inclined to feel less safe throughout her life time than the average man. This is why when a woman has indeed had to deal with domestic violence her fear of violence and vulnerability increases so much more. It was stated that women who have been victims of violence end up having an wide-ranging list of health problems.
Domestic violence
According to, The UK statistics on violence, 1 in 4 women may experience violence in their relationships with men. Severe, repeated and systematic violence occurs in at least 5 of every hundred marriages in Britain; Between 40 and 45% of murdered women are killed by their male partners; Between 1 and 2 women are murdered by their male partners every week;
more than 25% of all violent crime reported to the police is domestic violence of men against women, making it the second most common violent crime: 100,000 women per year seek treatment in London for violent injuries received in the home 30,000 women and children stay in refuges in the UK every year; In Wolverhampton, UK, 1 in 6 women had suffered some form of domestic abuse; One quarter of all assaults are in domestic circumstances.
Attrition in rape
According to (Gender & Crime 2008) In the UK, it seems that there have been high rates of rape, yet low rates of conviction. Of all serious crimes it seems as though this crime is the least dealt with. These rapists are not getting put behind bars their cases are being dropped in the initial investigation stages and nothing further is being done. Police are have been getting attacked about the amount of rape cases that they have been just letting “slide” by. Depending on where you live in the UK the number of rape cases the end in conviction vary. There is a disproportionate amount of support services for people who have been raped.
In the United States also referred to as the “rape culture”, it seems that rape is it seems rape statistics are as follows: According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, 1 out of every 4 women has been raped. There were 102,560 reported rapes or attempted rapes in 1990. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 130,000 women were victims of rape in 1990. The Justice Department says that 8 percent of all American women will be victims of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. From an interview sample of 4,008 women, the study projected that there were 683,000 rapes in 1990. Statistics have shown that in America 12.1 million American women, has or will be the victim of forcible rape sometime throughout her lifetime.
Reconceptualizing domestic violence as torture
The role of the Criminal Justice System in protecting women
In the legal area, class action civil suits against police responded more slowly and with less seriousness to violent crimes committed between non strangers than they did to stranger crimes. Finally, social science researchers published scientific evidence claiming that arrest was more effective in deterring domestic violence than were other police responses, a development that fell neatly in line with the already growing demands for more rigorous criminal justice system intervention. As has already been stated, in the past police have been more lenient on certain types of violence but now they have been immediate in their response. Just about every violence against women report received; ends in an arrest.
Statistics on law enforcement (Commission on Domestic violence)
Approximately 60% of family violence victimizations were reported to police between 1998 and 2002, up from about half between 1993 and 1998.
Among felony assault defendants convicted in State courts, 45% of persons sent to prison for family assault received a sentence of more than 2 years, compared to 77% of non-family assault offenders sent to prison.
Federal courts convicted 90% of defendants adjudicated for an interstate domestic violence offense.
Black women (67%) reported their victimization to police at significantly higher percentages than black men (48%), white men (45%), and white women (50%). No difference in white male and female percentages reporting emerged (45% versus 50%). Hispanic females reported intimate partner violence to the police at higher percentages than did non-Hispanic females (65% versus 52%).
Among victims of violence by an intimate partner, the percentage of women who reported the crime was greater in 1998 (59%) than in 1993 (48%).
In conclusion we can see that the United States and the United Kingdom have very similar statistics and ways in which they handle things. Law’s seem to differ between the countries but other than that there are many similarities. Domestic violence and rape are the same where ever you are. Whether in the US or UK women are still less likely to report domestic violence or rape by someone they know.