NCJ Number
206112
Journal
Criminology Volume: 42 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2004 Pages: 323-357
Date Published
May 2004
Length
35 pages
Annotation
This study examined the social ecology of violence against women.
Abstract
The study of violence against women is deeply informed by the feminist theory and grounded in the practical concerns of the women’s and victim’s movements. Feminist scholarship and practice have resulted in many social developments including increased awareness and attitudinal changes, greater availability of services, changes in the laws related to the policing and prosecution of domestic violence, and Federal legislation to promote research on the topic of women’s violence. Despite more than three decades of research on the topic of violence against women, the relative contribution of individual, family, and community factors toward victimization risk seems unknown. This study utilized data from the Area-Identified National Crime Victimization Survey to study the correlates of stranger, nonstranger, and intimate partner violence against women. Regardless of victim-offender relationship, this study found that the risk for victimization was highest among young, single women with children; particularly those who had lived in the current home for relatively short periods. Area family and age composition appeared to have stronger direct relationships with women’s violence than poverty or racial composition measure. It was also found that there would be more similarities than differences in the individual, family, and community correlates of stranger, nonstranger, and intimate partner violence. Tables, references, appendices