Child Exposure to Domestic Violence
Cyndi White
CJA/314
January 9, 2012
G. Andrew Smith

The policy issues that seem to be a major concern in the United States is about children being exposed to domestic violence in the home. No-one really looks at what the children have to go through when this happens. There could be some major damage done to the children that have been exposed to this happening. Boston police go on an average of about 200 calls a month on domestic violence. The content of the video on “Child exposure to Domestic Violence” was a personal crime. First we need to understand what the definition of “personal crime” is: “rape, sexual assault, personal robbery, assault, purse snatching and pocket picking. This
Children who witness the act of domestic violence may be afraid to go to sleep at night because they are worried they might wake up to a horrible situation. The basic elements that served as the basis for the video that I selected is how innocent children are being subjected to seeing someone they love being abused, whether it be emotionally, mentally or physically. The worst part is how sometimes these children even become a part of this abuse. The parents that are causing this type of abuse need to think about the effects that this will have on the child. A child that hears or sees a violent act may be subject to being an abuser as they get older. The criminological theory that would best explain the occurrence of this crime and issue would be “emphasis is on criminogenic social condition. This is the immediate social environment that is primarily responsible for what happens with a person who has gone through some rough times, such as; a broken family or poor parenting. Labeling theory is also one that can be involved in domestic violence. If a person grows up in a home where there is a lot of violence happening and people know it, they may label you as an abuser yourself even though you have never done anything. According to Hugh Downs: “Like veterans of war, all of these children have witnessed torture and terrorism, but their war zone is not in some far-off