Domestic Violence and Occupation of the Family Home

Abstract

Domestic violence takes many forms. It includes not just physical assault but psychological and emotional molestation or harassment and includes pestering, nagging, making nuisance telephone calls, and intimidation. Sometimes the violence is extremely severe and results in a criminal conviction. In R v. Kowalski (1988) Cr App R 339, [1988] 1 FLR 447, for example, the appellant forced his wife to have oral sex and sexual intercourse by threatening her with a knife and in R v. Brown (1993) 14 Cr App R 434 the defendant kicked the front door in and forced his ex-girlfriend to have oral sex, raped her and then kicked her about the head. Despite the difficulty of establishing what goes on behind locked doors, violence in the home is thought to be a widespread social problem. In 1994, for example, 25 034 applications were made for injunctions in the county court under the Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act 1976 (Judicial Statistics 1994). Domestic violence exists at all levels of society and involves not just spouses and cohabitants but other family members. Various factors have been posited for the causes of violence. Personality factors, such as psychopathic tendencies, aggression or jealousy may play a part, as may social factors, such as poverty, housing and unemployment.