Domestic Violence: Bystander Intervention and the Role of Privacy

Victoria Gutierrez

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Domestic Violence: Bystander Intervention and the Role of Privacy

In: Exploring Violence in Families and Societies

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Victoria Gutierrez

Victoria Gutierrez
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 1–10

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848880863_002

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Domestic violence (DV) is a major social and health concern affecting countries worldwide. As with other forms of violence, the consequences affect not only those directly involved but reach all members of society. Long-term strategies to tackle the problem aim to eliminate social attitudes condoning DV as well as to urge public involvement. Research on bystander intervention indicates that onlookers may fail to assist the victim when the inter-personal aggression they witness is defined as private or when they perceive victim and offender to be related. This suggests that DV is not merely construed as a form of inter-personal assault, but continues to be linked to notions of privacy which make this recognition problematic. Within a broader debate, conflicting social discourses, contesting notions of privacy versus safety, are relevant to the discussion of how bystanders may understand and react to DV. These discourses incorporate the criminalisation of DV which in its latest development has given further powers to institutionalised interference (e.g. mandatory arrest of offenders) and the recognition of individual autonomy and the right to privacy which centre round the victim’s choice and agency. Drawing insights from bystander intervention research, this paper explores the divergent social construction of interpersonal violence on the basis of victim-offender relatedness and the right to privacy, and considers the consequent impact on social responses to prevent violence in the community. The article concludes with an examination of the human rights approach as a potential avenue to circumvent the public/private dichotomy, and encourage bystander involvement.

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Exploring Violence in Families and Societies

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848880863

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 23 Apr 2011

Subjects
- Social Sciences
  - Comparative Social Sciences
  - Sociology & Anthropology

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Domestic Violence: Bystander Intervention and the Role of Privacy

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Exploring Violence in Families and Societies

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