Abstract
The purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to test whether law enforcement officers could reliably use a standard protocol to collect data on domestic violence events (DVEs) across a large municipality, and (2) to use these data to examine prevalence and nature of the violence and children’s presence. Reliability checks indicated that data were collected reliably on over 5,000 substantiated DVEs. Findings showed that 48% of all assaults in the municipality were DVEs. Victims were predominantly females in their early thirties, and injuries were predominantly minor and resulted from body contact. Children were present in nearly 50% of the DVEs. They were disproportionately present in domestic violence households compared to all other households in the municipality. Domestic violence households with children were more likely to have mothers and fathers involved in the violence and were disproportionately minority households headed by single females in relatively poor neighborhoods.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect (1998). The role of the pediatrician in recognizing and intervening on behalf of abused women. Pediatrics, 101, 1091–1092.
Boruch, R. (1997). Randomized experiments for planning and evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Brinkerhoff, M., & Lupri, E. (1988). Interspousal violence. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 13(4), 407–434.
Buka S. L., & Lipsitt, L. P. (1994). Toward a developmental epidemiology. In S. L. Friedman & H. C. Haywood (Eds.), Developmental follow-up: Concepts, domains and methods (pp. 331–350). New York: Academic.
Buzawa, E. S., & Hotaling, G. (2000). The police response to domestic violence calls for assistance in three Massachusetts towns: Final report. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice.
Carlson, B. E. (2000) Children exposed to intimate partner violence: Research findings and implications for intervention. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 1, 321–342.
Ceci, S., Hembrooke, H., & Bruck, M. (1997). 2Children’s reports of personal events. In D. Cicchetti & S. Toth (Eds.), Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology: Developmental perspectives on trauma (pp. 513–534). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2000). Building data systems for monitoring and responding to violence against women. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 49 (RR11), 1–18. Retrieved February 2, 2004 from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr4911a1.htm.
Cummings, Goeke-Morey, & Raymond (2004). Fathers in family context: Effects of marital quality and marital conflict. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (pp. 196–221). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Eck, J. E., & Rosenbaum, D. (1994). The new police order: Effectiveness, equity, and efficiency in community policing. In D. Rosenbaum (Ed.), Community policing: Testing the promises (pp. 3–23). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Edelson, J. L. (1999). Children’s witnessing of adult domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14 (8), 839–870.
Fantuzzo, J., Boruch, R., Beriama, A., Atkins, M., & Marcus, S. (1997). Domestic violence and children: Prevalence and risk in five major US cities. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 116–122.
Fantuzzo, J. W., & Mohr, W. K. (1999). Prevalence and effects of child exposure to domestic violence. The Future of Children, 9, 21–32.
Fincham, F. D., & Osborne, L. N. (1993). Marital conflict and children: Retrospect and prospect. Clinical Psychology Review, 13, 75–88.
Garner, J., Fagan, J., & Maxwell, C. (1995). Published findings from the Spouse Assault Replication Program: A critical review. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 11, 3–28.
Gjelsvik, A., Verhoek-Oftendahl, W., & Pearlman, D. N. (2003). Domestic violence incidents with children witnesses: Findings from Rhode Island surveillance data. Women’s Health Issues, 13, 68–72.
Graham-Berman, S. A., & Levendosky, A. A. (1998). Traumatic stress symptoms in children of battered women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 13, 111–128.
Hanson, R. F., Saunders, R. F., Kistner, J. (1992). The relationship between dimensions of interparental conflict and adjustment in college-age offspring. Journal Of Interpersonal Violence, 7, 435–453.
Holtzworth-Munroe, A., Smutzler, N., & Bates, L. (1997).A brief review of the research on husband violence. Part III: Sociodemographic factors, relationship factors, and differing consequences of husband and wife violence. Aggression & Violent Behavior, 2(3), 285–307.
Howell, M. J., & Pugleisi, K. L. (1988). Husbands who harm: Predicting spousal violence by men. Journal of Family Violence, 3, 15–27.
Hyman, A., Schiller, D, & Lo, B. (1995). Laws mandating reporting of domestic violence. Journal of the American Medical Association, 22, 1781–1787.
Jordan, C. E. (2004). Intimate partner violence and the justice system. Journal of Interpersonal Violence , 19, 1412–1434.
Kolbo, J. R. (1996). Risk and resilience among children exposed to domestic violence. Violence and Victims, 11, 113–128.
Lemon, N. K. D. (1999). The legal system’s response to children exposed to domestic violence. Future of Children, 9(3), 67–83.
Marans, S., & Berkman, M. (1997, March). Child development-Community policing: Partnership in a climate of violence. Washington, D.C.: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Maxwell, C. D., Garner, J. H., & Fagan, J. A. (2001). The effects of arrest on intimate partner violence: New evidence from the Spouse Assault Replication Program. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.
McDonald, R., Jouriles, E. N., Norwood, W., Ware, H. S., & Ezell, E. (2000). Husbands’ marital violence and the adjustment problems of clinic-referred children. Behavior Therapy, 31(4), 649–665.
National Research Council (1998). Violence in families; Assessing prevention and treatment programs. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Reiss, A. (1971). The police and the public. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Robinson, A. L., & Chandek, M. S. (2000).The domestic violence arrest decision: Examining demographic, attitudinal, and situational variables. Crime & Delinquency, 46, 18–37.
Rosenberg, M. L., O’Carroll, P. W., & Powell, K. E. (1992). Let’s be clear: Violence is a public health problem. Journal of the American Medical Association, 267(22), 117.
SAS Institute, Inc. (2003). SAS/STAT (Version 8). Cary, NC: Author.
Smith, A. (2001). Domestic violence laws: The voices of battered women. Violence and Victims, 16, 91–110.
Stets, J. E., & Straus, M. A. (1989). The marriage license as a hitting license: A comparison of assaults in dating, cohabiting, and married couples. Journal of Family Violence, 4(2), 161–180.
Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Boney-McCoy, S., & Sugarman, D. B. (1996). Revised Conflict Tactic Scales: Development and preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283–316.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (2000). Census of the Population 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census.
US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (1998). Violence by intimates. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2003). Intimate partner violence 1993–2001. Washington, D.C.: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fantuzzo, J.W., Fusco, R.A., Mohr, W.K. et al. Domestic Violence and Children’s Presence: A Population-based Study of Law Enforcement Surveillance of Domestic Violence. J Fam Viol 22, 331–340 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9080-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9080-4