Domestic violence is an umbrella term for violence in close personal relationships, especially in partnerships and families. It encompasses all acts of physical, psychological, sexual, and economic violence. The individuals do not necessarily have to live in the same household.
In most cases, domestic violence is perpetrated by men, and women are overwhelmingly affected. However, women also commit violence in close social relationships, and men can also be victims of domestic violence.
In order to offer appropriate support, it is important to know who is committing the violence and who is affected by it. Domestic violence and idomestic violence distinguished.
When current or former spouses commit violence, it is referred to as Domestic violenceThis refers to violence in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships. Children living in these violent relationships are severely affected.
Violence perpetrated by other family members and relatives, e.g. parents, children, parents-in-law or grandparents, is referred to as domestic violenceAlthough the vast majority of perpetrators here are male, unlike intimate partner violence, domestic violence affects a similar number of boys and men as girls and women.
Since 2022, the police have also been differentiating in their statistical survey – in the so-called Federal Situation Report on Domestic Violence – between cases of domestic violence and intimate partner violence.
However, particularly in the media and politics, the figures on domestic violence, intimate partner violence and intra-family violence are not always carefully differentiated from one another.
While the term "domestic violence" has become established in many fields of work, such as support for women affected by violence, the police, the judiciary, and youth welfare services, institutions in Germany often interpret it in different broad ways: in some cases, it includes violence against children by close relatives, while in others, it is understood exclusively as intimate partner violence.
Current professional discussions also include other living spaces and relationships. Among other things, it is taken into account that people in facilities for people with disabilities or in care facilities also experience violence, for example, from fellow residents or staff. Here, the term Violence in the local social environment enforced.
Read more here Dynamics of intimate partner violence.
Lamneck, Luedtke; Ottermann, Vogl: Crime Scene Family. Domestic Violence in a Social Context, Wiesbaden 2012.
The following federal associations are members of the Women’s Shelter Coordination Association
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