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Domestic violence; domestic abuse; intimate partner violence; social construct; relationship violence
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Not All Violence In Relationships Is "Domestic Violence", Tamara Kuennen
Not All Violence In Relationships Is "Domestic Violence", Tamara Kuennen
Brooklyn Law Review
This article argues that not all violence in intimate relationships is “domestic violence.” Domestic violence is a pattern of acts perpetrated with a motive: power and control over another. National anti-domestic violence organizations, activists and advocates, and a number of academics agree on this construct of domestic violence. Law, on the other hand, requires neither a pattern nor a motive; it defines domestic violence to include any single act of violence in a relationship, regardless of the perpetrator’s intent. Because legal intervention is the primary intervention for domestic violence today, feminist legal scholars have sought to reform the law to …