NCJ Number
192017
Journal
Domestic Violence Report Volume: 6 Issue: 6 Dated: August/September 2001 Pages: 83-90
Date Published
2001
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article reviews some of the criticisms of the Conflict Tactic Scales (CTS) and other crime surveys as means to measure intimate partner violence.
Abstract
The CTS measures behavior reported to have occurred during couple conflicts. CTS instruments ask how often the respondent and the partner did certain acts, such as hitting or throwing something within the past year. The CTS and other instruments modeled on it are unique in showing that both men and women are approximately equally violent. Sometimes they even find that women engage in more violent behaviors than men. Most feminists have long been highly critical of the CTS and those using it. Feminists and others have criticized the CTS because it does not consider the context of any behaviors or acts. Another longstanding criticism of the CTS concerns the honesty with which men and women answer its questions. Given that abusers normally minimize or deny their abusiveness, many have criticized the instruments for inflating women's reports about their violent acts compared with men's reports of their own acts, due to women's greater willingness to report accurately. Other criticisms of the CTS are its underinflation of intimate partner violence and its measurement of stalking. This article suggests the need to use lawyers and advocates in designing research on intimate partner violence so as to take into account the distinctive nature of intimate partner violence and the laws applicable to it.