Throughout history, domestic violence has been one of the most common types of crime. Society's attitude toward situations involving intentionally violent and controlling behavior against intimate partners is that it is not a social problem. Rather, society believes domestic violence is a private matter and the effort to resolve such violence is a matter within the family. As a result, domestic violence is also one of the most common types of crime that is underreported because it is rarely brought to the attention of the public.
             Our culture reinforces the idea that domestic violence is acceptable, and that "battered women have been viewed as persons who have brought their victimization upon themselves, and persons who are 'appropriately' disciplined by the males in relation to them" (Hutchings, 1988). "Virtually all pre- and post-literate Western and Eastern civilizations have relegated women to second class citizenship. In the Judeo-Christian philosophies, women were chattels and considered the legal property of men. Men believed it was their right to discipline their 'property' as they saw fit. Furthermore, the English, developed the phrase, 'rule of thumb,' as a part of their Common Law, wherein a man could beat his wife as long as the rod was no larger in circumference than the thickness of his thumb" (Whetstone, 2001). This belief that one has the right to control his wife has led men to act in ways that would ensure compliance. To ensure that compliance is achieved and maintained, the tactics that men use in domestic violence include: controlling behavior, threats, harassment, stalking, and rape. "Abuse may start with verbal attacks and escalate to physical violence in the form of punching, kicking, choking, severe beatings, and in extreme cases, homicide" (Gelles, 1974, as cited in Whetstone, 2001).
             In those instances where domestic violence ...