Next Millennium Conference: Ending Domestic Violence; What We Know About Domestic Violence

• NCJ Number: 184576
• Author(s): Lori Heise; Nanette Benbow; Eileen Luna
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 51 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1999-WT-VX-0002
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Conference Material

Annotation

A panel discusses various issues that pertain to methodologies for obtaining information on domestic violence and what some current research has determined about domestic violence.

Abstract

One panel member discusses the importance of collaboration between researchers and practitioners in obtaining and organizing information on domestic violence. Practitioners have direct contact with the problem and can thus provide experiential knowledge about the population and the problems with which they interact and confront daily. Researchers must gain knowledge from practitioners before they can begin to design research that is appropriate and productive for the field of practice. Another panel member speaks from experience in conducting cross-cultural studies of domestic violence. Such studies have found that domestic violence exists in all cultures, and the common factor in abusive relationships is the need of the abuser to exert control over the partner. Cultures foster abuse through values and conditioning that promotes control and power as a central feature of masculinity. A third panel member discusses research on Native American tribal domestic violence programs. Problems in gaining support for such programs among tribal leaders are identified and discussed.