NCJ Number
72914
Date Published
1980
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Although official norms may exalt the family as a loving and gentle group, these cultural norms coexist with a more subtle set of norms that legitimate the use of force and violence in the family setting.
Abstract
Data on homicides in a dozen different countries show that murderers and their victims are often members of the same family. Moreover, when women are murdered, the perpetrator is usually the husband, who tends to commit the crime with greater brutality than would be used by the wife-murderer. Covert, largely unrecognized, but powerful cultural norms permit and sometimes even encourage physical aggression between spouses so that the marriage license becomes a 'hitting license.' Although laws allowing husbands the right to chastise their wives are no longer valid, the underlying spirit of such laws lingers. One example is the doctrine of spousal immunity which prevents a wife from suing her husband for assault and battery. Moreover, both the criminal and the civil justice system fail to prevent the immediate repetition of the offense; the police rarely arrest violent husbands, and when the wife attempts to bring charges against the abusive mate, she is often ignored by prosecutors, so few assault cases reach the trial level. The failure to invoke criminal penalties in situations of family violence reflects society's acceptance of marital violence, particularly if it is directed against women. The learning of family violence takes place in many ways, including the observation by children of aggressive behavior between their parents. Parents thus serve as role models for intrafamily physical aggression and its corresponding social norms. A few notes are cited.