Domestic Violence and Stalking: Is There a Link?

Research can be very useful to anybody. Whenever a person researches a topic, not only do they learn a lot of valuable information, but they begin to ask questions or develop theories based on that topic. These theories spawn more questions and even more theories develop, snowballing into a vast array of knowledge for the researcher. During the course of researching stalking, I have learned a lot of valuable information about who stalkers are, what they do, and how to survive a stalking. The more research I did on this topic, the more I began to wonder whether or not stalking has any correlation with domestic violence?
As the September 11th article explained, there are many different types of stalkers. Most of them (70% - 80%) begin stalking after an intimate relationship has ended (Swanson, 2003). Some (20% - 25%) stalk complete strangers (Swanson, 2003). Most stalkers, according to the website stalkinghelp.org, suffer from some type of mental defect. These defects, taken by themselves, can be treated with medication or counseling. The question that I hope to answer by the end of this article is whether or not domestic abusers have the same mental defects as stalkers. The answer to this question alongside other topics discussed in this article will hopefully show that there is a link between domestic violence and stalking.
Before I begin to answer this question, it is crucial to define what domestic violence is. Domestic violence is a crime that occurs when one intimate partner physically and/or mentally assaults another intimate partner. An intimate partner is anybody who engages in a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend or who marries a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Let us say we have two intimate partners who are married named John and Linda. To an outsider, John and Linda seem to be happily married. It seems that wherever John and Linda go, they are always together and appear to be happy. Behind the scenes, however, John sometimes beats Linda violently at home. John beats Linda up so bad that sometimes she has to go to the emergency room to be treated for her injuries. Linda always tells the doctors that she trips and falls down the stairs, or slips on her icy sidewalk. Linda is always scared whenever John comes home from work because she is not sure whether or not he is going to beat her up. In addition to beating Linda up violently, John constantly insults her and blames her for things she did not do. As a result, Linda is always depressed, cannot make rational decisions by herself, and has very low self-esteem. John, in a nutshell, is physically and mentally abusing Linda.
In order to fully understand what domestic violence is we need to determine what makes people commit domestic violence? Certain criminological theories explain why people commit crimes. Three criminological theories I am going to discuss are the biological theory, sociological theory, and psychological theory. Each individual theory has its own reason why people choose to commit domestic violence.
The biological theory of crime states that certain inborn traits and chemical influences drive a person to commit a crime (Siegel, 2002). Inborn traits are nothing more than genetics; what our primitive ancestors did when they were alive thousands of years ago have been passed from generation to generation by their genes. Similarly, whether you are a male or a female, everybody has chemical hormones circulating within our system. Males produce testosterone which enhances their sexual drive, masculinity, and aggression. Females produce estrogen which enhances their femininity and makes them less aggressive (Myers, 2002).
To apply the biological theory to domestic violence, we will focus on genetics and chemical influences on a male (because males are typically the offender in most domestic violence cases). Males have this inborn, or genetic, trait that makes them highly competitive (Myers, 2002). This is the reason why males typically love action movies and watching competitive sports like football; because that is what’s in a male’s genes. If we were to take a trip back in time to the dawn of humanity, males were competitive as the males of today are. However, the males of yesterday were competitive for a different reason. Males typically were aggressive toward other males because they feared that other males would steal their mate from them (Siegel, 2002). As a result, these primitive males would have total control over their female partner because the males didn’t want to lose their female companion to the competition. If the female got out of line, the male’s duty would be to put the female back in her place. This was done by acts of violence both verbal and physical (Siegel, 2002).
Not only do genes play in a role in domestic violence, but the fact that males have certain chemical hormones within their body also make them prone to violence. As I mentioned earlier, males produce a chemical called testosterone, which enhances masculinity and aggression (Myers, 2002). The more testosterone a male produces, the more he becomes aggressive. Given the fact that males have traditionally been aggressive and competitive with others, it is not surprising that when a male who has high levels of testosterone tends to be more aggressive than those who have normal testosterone levels (Myers, 2002). If testosterone levels are high in males, they are more likely to escalate their aggression in order take control of the situation (Dutton, 1995). Tragically, this may occur as a form of domestic violence.
The second criminological theory in discussion focuses on the sociological theory. The sociological theory focuses on how people are socialized into society by their family, friends, the media, music, coworkers, etc. (Siegel, 2002). For purposes of this article and to make things as simple as possible, let us just focus on the family. If you remember the example at the opening of this article, suppose John and Linda’s child witnesses the abuse at home. The child, who is no more than five years old, witnesses John beating Linda at least once a week. This process is repeated until the child moves out of the house many years later. How do you suppose the child will view domestic violence? Quite simply, the child will likely grow up to become just like his father; a domestic abuser (Siegel, 2002).
Children who grow up surrounded by violence and crime will accept this behavior as normal. They will have a greater chance of becoming violent and/or criminal once they reach adulthood (Siegel, 2002). In the case of John and Linda’s child, the child witnesses John beating Linda, and accepts this type of violence as normal behavior; thus the seed is sown for the child to be just like his father.
But children are also socialized by their family to accept traditional female sexual roles (Dutton, 1995). Since the beginning of time, men have traditionally been viewed as the leader of the family and were expected to control the family. In the past, men were traditionally the ones who got a woman, procreated with the woman to have children, started a family, got a job, and used the money from that job to support the family. The female, in return, would stay at home, care for the kids, do housework, and subjugate herself to her husband’s needs. If the female got out of line, the husband’s duty was to get her back in line by whatever means necessary. Since the feminist movement of the 1970s, these traditions have dwindled somewhat, but there are still males out there who believe that they should dominate women and that the women should subjugate themselves to the males. This in itself is another factor in domestic violence situations.
Finally, certain psychological factors cause males to commit domestic violence. Psychology typically focuses on a person’s brain (Siegel, 2002). One might think that if a person has a psychological disorder such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and paranoia that they are more likely to commit domestic violence than those who do not have these disorders. Interestingly enough, most people who have these psychological disorders are more likely to stalk another person (www.stalkinghelp.org). People who commit domestic violence are more likely to have poor communication skills, have trouble understanding right from wrong, typically abuse alcohol or drugs, and have an increased level of stress in their lives (Gellert, 2002).
Continuing with our example of John and Linda, John is not a really intelligent person, earning a D average in high school. After graduation, John skipped college and immediately went to work at a widget manufacturing plant making minimum wage. John works six days a week, has money problems, and is about to lose the house. All of these factors are causing John to have an increased level of stress in his life. John cannot talk about his problems to his wife or his peers because he has trouble communicating with others due to a learning disability. Consequently, he starts to drink alcoholic beverages almost every night after work to escape from his problems. When John comes home late, his wife asks him where he’s been, when all of a sudden it happens.
John releases his anger and his stress not by talking about his problems, but by physically assaulting his wife. Because of John’s decreased intelligence level and learning disability, he has trouble determining whether or not he’s doing the right thing by beating his wife. John believes that beating his wife is a normal thing to do, when in reality, John’s causing more harm than good.
Out of all these theories, we now have a sense as to why people abuse their significant other. But, who actually commits domestic violence? With the three criminological theories combined, basically anybody who breathes is capable of committing domestic violence. Does that mean, however, that everybody commits domestic violence? Not exactly. Domestic violence is usually committed by males (85.3% of domestic abusers), but women are now starting to commit domestic violence as well (30% of domestic abusers) (Buzawa, 1992). In combination with these statistics, most (41.6%) domestic abusers are between the ages of 26 and 35, followed by 37.3% of abusers between the ages of 17 to 25 (Buzawa, 1992). Most abusers (48%) are white, followed by Hispanics (33.8%) (Buzawa, 1992). To put it in a nutshell, if a white male, between the ages of 26 and 35 have all the criteria just presented in the three criminological theories, the chances are extremely high that that person would become a domestic abuser.
Enough talk about the abuser; what about the victim? Typically, the victims of domestic violence are female (57.6% of domestic violence victims), but more males are becoming the victims (39.9% of domestic violence victims) (Buzawa, 1992). Usually, most victims (33.3%) are between 26 and 35 years old, followed by 28% between 19 and 25 years old (Buzawa, 1992). Just like abusers themselves, most victims of domestic violence are white (55.9%) followed by Hispanics (26.5%) (Buzawa, 1992). To recap, most victims of domestic violence are white females between the ages of 19 and 25.
The reason why domestic violence is widespread across the United States is due in large part to the abuser using what’s called the cycle of violence toward the victim, and the victim’s reluctance to report this crime to police out of fear of what might happen next. The cycle of violence begins by the offender becoming tense, followed by physical abuse, and the reconciliation stage (Gellert, 2002).
The beginning of the cycle involves the abuser becoming tense (Gellert, 2002). Earlier, I mentioned that domestic abusers usually are filled with increased levels of stress. Since this level of stress is accompanied by other variables, the abuser needs some way to release this tension. Instead of talking about the problem like most people do, the abuser takes it out on his or her spouse. This usually begins by the abuser insulting or criticizing the victim, isolating the victim from others, feeling jealous toward the victim, and making the victim dependent on the abuser (Gellert, 2002). The goal of the abuser is to have total control over the victim. If something sets the abuser off, like the victim saying something the abuser doesn’t like, for example, or the victim looks at the abuser the wrong way, the abuser uses verbal assaults to keep the victim in line. This type of abuse usually lasts for a few hours, or even years (Gellert, 2002).
The victim usually does not challenge the abuser’s behavior because they cling to the false hope that this behavior is not like the abuser. As a result, the abuser gains more control over the victim (Gellert, 2002). Unfortunately, if the abuser becomes more aggressive, the abuser will finally have irrational and uncontrollable behavior which could lead to the physical assault of the victim; sometimes so bad that the victim needs to go to the emergency room for treatment (Gellert, 2002). The abuser, in order to keep his or her control over the victim, tries to seek reconciliation from the victim after this assault. The abuser reconciles with the victim by offering an apology, gifts, or dinner. Usually, the victim accepts the apology and the cycle starts all over again (Gellert, 2002).
Some of you may be wondering how anybody could put up with this abuse for months or years. Let us focus on John and Linda once again. When John and Linda first met, Linda thought she found Mr. Right. John would treat her with the highest respect and dignity. Linda thought that John was the right man for her, with the exception that John had a slight drinking problem and a violent temper sometimes. Linda shrugged those things off thinking that nobody was perfect. When John and Linda finally got married, the “knight in shining armor” transformed into a totally different person. John would work countless hours at the manufacturing plant, go to the bar, and come home stressed out. Linda noticed that there were times that John would insult her, tried to keep tabs on her exact location, and sometimes slap her. Linda didn’t think anything of it; she related these actions to John’s stress with work. Things, unfortunately, took a turn for the worse when John began to physically assault Linda sending her to the emergency room a few times.
Linda remained with John because after doing all those horrible things to her, he apologized by saying he was stressed out because of work. John promised Linda that it would never happen again. To ensure Linda would accept his apology, John bought a bouquet of red roses and treated Linda to a dinner and a movie. Even though Linda thought the “old-John” was back, unfortunately, a few weeks later, the cycle of violence continued all over again.
Each time the cycle goes on, the more control the abuser has over the victim. Each time the victim tries to leave the relationship, the abuser would threaten the victim by saying he will kill her, kill her children, or stalk her. Since the woman fears for her life and her safety, she remains trapped in the relationship.
But what happens if the victim does in fact escape from the relationship and leave the abuser? There are in fact domestic violence shelters in communities nationwide that reach out and offer assistance to the victims of domestic violence. Just like stalking, domestic violence is such a traumatic experience for the victim that the victim’s life is changed for the worse. Domestic violence shelters offer a place for victims to live, a place for victims to receive counseling, and a place for victims to receive legal assistance from an attorney (U.S. Department…).
Once the victim leaves the abusive household, most of the time, they don’t know where to go. Domestic violence shelters offer the victim a chance to live in a safe surrounding free from the abuser’s wrath. As mentioned earlier, domestic violence victims usually feel worthless, have low self-esteem, and see their life as an out of control train wreck. As a result, psychologists are available at these domestic abuse clinics to return the victim to a somewhat normal way of life. If the victim wishes to press charges against her abuser or wants to know what legal options are available, the victim could consult with a legal attorney to get legal advice.
Did I just mention that horrid “s” word, stalking, a few minutes ago? It’s not surprising that the most common group of stalkers out there (about 75% of cases) are simple obsessional stalkers, or those that previously had an intimate relationship with a boyfriend or a girlfriend (Swanson, 2003). These people typically have feelings of jealousy toward their ex-lover and have control issues that lead them to stalk (www.stalkinghelp.org). According to the National Violence Against Women Survey, “81% of women who were stalked by a current or former husband or cohabiting partner were also physically assaulted and also sexually assaulted by that partner” (Stalking Resource Center). Even though about 20% of stalking cases (Swanson, 2003) involve stalkers who suffer from psychological problems, these people typically stalk strangers instead of ex-intimate partners (www.stalkinghelp.org). Now things are making sense. After all, if a domestic abuser constantly assaults their significant other and have an increased sense of control after each assault, naturally the abuser will begin to stalk their partner if they leave. Abusers do that because they want that control back.
In the course of me researching stalkers, I did not come up with concrete evidence that stalkers share the same biological, sociological, and psychological factors as domestic abusers do. However, I did find a link between the two groups in that both of them want complete control over their victims. Looking at the statistics mentioned a second ago, most domestic abusers will stalk their ex-lovers.
In response to the question posed at the beginning of this article, there is a link between domestic violence and stalking. If you are a victim of domestic violence and you leave the relationship, the chances are high that you will be stalked. Remember that the main goal of domestic abusers is to release their frustrations not by talking about it to a person, but by physically assaulting a person, usually their spouse. Since these abusers have a poor social structure due to poor communication skills, they want control over somebody to make them feel important. If the spouse decides to leave them because they’ve had enough of the assaults, the abuser would want that control back and would do anything to get it back; even stalk their victims.
I cannot stress this enough, if you believe you are a victim of domestic violence, notify the police immediately. Police departments around the nation have become more educated about the dangers of domestic violence compared to a few years ago. Attack the problem before it becomes out of control. But what happens if you are too deep into the relationship and decide to leave, but once you leave you are now stalked?
Next week’s article will talk about what to do if you are being stalked. I discovered a wonderful website on the Internet called “End Stalking in America.” It describes the steps one should take in order to survive a stalking. I will use that information and explain those steps in depth in next week’s article.
Here is the schedule (which could change without notice) for the weeks to come:
October 9, 2006: What to do if you are being stalked?
October 23, 2006: Rehabilitation programs for victims.
October 30, 2006: Rehabilitation programs for stalkers: are there any?
IF THE SCHEDULING CHANGES, I WILL POST A REVISED SCHEDULE ON THE MONDAY THE BLOG WOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED.

REFERENCE LIST:

United States Department of Agriculture Safety, Health and Employee Welfare Division. Domestic Violence Awareness Handbook. Accessed September 28, 2006 from: http://www.usda.gov/da/shmd/aware.htm

Stalking Resource Center. Stalking in America – National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAW). Accessed September 28, 2006 from: http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_NVAW587

Resources for Victims of Stalking. Types of Stalkers. Accessed September 28, 2006 from: www.stalkinghelp.org

Dutton, Donald G. (1995). The Domestic Assault of Women: Psychological and Criminal Justice Perspectives. UBC Press: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Gellert, George A. (2002). Confronting Violence: Answers to Questions About the Epidemic Destroying America’s Homes and Communities. American Public Health Association: Washington, D.C.

Buzawa, Eve S., Buzawa, Carl G. (1992). Domestic Violence: The Changing Criminal Justice Response. Auburn House: Westport, Connecticut.

Myers, David G. (2002). Exploring Psychology. Worth Publishers: New York City, New York.

Siegel, Larry J. (2002). Criminology: The Core. Wadsworth Publishing: Belmont, California.
Swanson, Charles R., Chamelin, Neil C., Territo, Leonard. (2003). Criminal Investigation. McGraw Hill: New York City, New York.


These stories that are told on this blog are true. The names have been changed to protect the true identities of those individuals involved. If you would like to respond to this blog entry, please click on the envelope next to comments underneath this article. On the screen that appears, enter your name and your email address. Under “friend’s email address” enter Senorgetman@yahoo.com. I will only accept emails under this fashion. DISCLAIMOR: THIS WEBSITE BY NO MEANS OFFERS LEGAL ADVICE TO VICTIMS OF STALKING AND DOMESTIC ABUSE. IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY A VICTIM OF STALKING AND/OR DOMESTIC ABUSE, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IMMEDIATELY.