NCJ Number
93501
Journal
Victimology Volume: 8 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (1983) Pages: 54-79
Date Published
1983
Length
26 pages
Annotation
The paper examines the socio-cultural context of physical and psychological violence focusing on the variables that legitimize violent behavior and its victims. 'Minorities' - that is, the powerless - have been considered throughout history as the legitimate object and target of hostility and violence.
Abstract
In our society, women are considered a minority and treated accordingly. The paper then examines in detail the slow and complex process through which violence against a certain group is finally recognized by society as a social problem worthy of attention and calling for society's intervention. The focus is on the struggle of feminists, activists, and some academic researchers and writers in the United States to bring violence against women and children out into the open and to obtain public acknowledgment that they are indeed forms of violence about which society should be concerned and take action. The phases through which a situation in society emerges as a social problem are identified in the paper as follows: initially, silent public acquiescence and tolerance of the violence, public recognition and awareness, the victims 'come out,' formulation of public policy, implementation and enforcement. The dynamics of each phase are described and analyzed in detail particularly as they apply to violence against women and children. Important court decisions and legislation in the United States are also mentioned. The paper then examines the legal standing of the victim in the justice system and calls for fundamental reforms that would restore some rights and some active role to the victim in the decision-making process of justice. Finally, the paper focuses on the ultimate goal of this process of change: the creation of a culture and of a society without domination and violence. (Author abstract)