Opinion ID: 2548176
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Nature of Domestic Violence

Text: Domestic violence is a serious social and legal problem in the United States, occurring in every economic, racial, and ethnic group. ( Developments in the Law  Domestic Violence (1993) 106 Harv. L.Rev. 1499, 1501 ( Developments in the Law ); see American Psychological Assn., Violence and the Family (1997) p. 9(APA).) It differs from other forms of criminal violence in several ways: (1) As compared to other crimes, domestic violence is vastly underreported, and until the last 20 to 30 years was largely hidden from public examination. (See State v. Kelly (1984) 97 N.J. 178, 478 A.2d 364, 370; APA, supra, p. 9; Waits, The Criminal Justice System's Response to Battering: Understanding the Problem, Forging the Solutions (1985) 60 Wash. L.Rev. 267, fn. 1 (Waits).) (2) In most cases, the batterers are male, the victims female. [5] ( Developments in the Law, supra, 106 Harv. L.Rev. at p. 1501, fn. 1; see Okun, Woman Abuse: Facts Replacing Myths (1986) pp. 39-40.) (3) A fundamental difference between family violence and other forms of violence (such as street violence) is that family violence occurs within ongoing relationships that are expected to be protective, supportive, and nurturing. The ties between victim and victimizer often are the strongest emotional bonds, and victims frequently feel a sense of loyalty to their abusers.... [¶] Consequently, even a victim who reports an abusive family member to police may later protect the person by denying, minimizing, or recanting the report. (APA, supra, p. 5; see Waits, supra, 60 Wash. L.Rev. at pp. 306-307.) Thus, the prosecution of domestic violence cases presents particular difficulties. Unlike conventional cases ... where prosecutors rely on the cooperation and participation of complaining witnesses to obtain convictions, in domestic violence cases prosecutors are often faced with exceptional challenges. Such challenges include victims who refuse to testify, who recant previous statements, or whose credibility is attacked by defense questions on why they remained in a battering relationship. (Rogers, Prosecutorial Use of Expert Testimony in Domestic Violence Cases: From Recantation to Refusal to Testify (1998) 8 Colum. J. Gender & L. 67, 68 (Rogers); see Schroeder, Using Battered Woman Syndrome Evidence in the Prosecution of a Batterer (1991) 76 Iowa L.Rev. 553 (Schroeder).)