How do reporting rates of domestic abuse differ across England and Wales?
Introduction
Domestic Violence is an issue that affects the lives of people worldwide. In the UK this is a
criminal offence and in this grant bid, factors will be explored to try and explain the link
between them and Domestic Violence. Some of these factors include biological and
Socioeconomic. Research gaps are highlighted, and a study is proposed to try and explain
how Domestic Violence differs across England and Wales.
Literature Review
Domestic Violence Abuse (DVA) is one of the most common offences in the UK to affect
families and relationships. It is influenced by numerous factors including social, economic
and gender. DVA cannot be explained for any reason as the offences differ so much
between victims and no two victims will have experienced the same thing. Domestic
Violence is something we can try to understand by researching how there are differences
based on different variables, to be able to offer help and support to victims by knowing the
warning signs or making sure there are support systems in place. Socio-economic factors
include factors that strongly influence DVA rates. Socio-economic factors include household
income, occupation and religion. In the UK, occupation and finance tend to be the most
common factors in DVA cases. For example, Brennan et al (2023) examined occupation as a
factor of DVA. This study was the first of its kind to be conducted and focused on reviewing
DVA within the police workforce. the study was completed to fill any research gaps and
found that of 876 respondents 23% (201.48) reported they had been a victim of domestic
abuse while working for the police force and the risk for females was 61% higher for
females. Additionally, 27% (236.52) of the 876 respondents reported that the offender also
worked within the police force. This research suggests that DVA can be influenced by
occupation. Similarly, Fahmy et al (2018) examined socio-economic factors as a causal
factor of DVA. In this study, evidence was analysed to show a link between poverty and DVA.
The results found that in households with less than 10k income, women are 3.5x more likely
to experience DVA than women living in a household with 20k income. This research
suggests that household income and poverty as factors that can affect the rates of DVA in
the UK. Considering occupational and financial factors influencing violent behaviour in
intimate relationships, underreporting is something that is increased. In the case of
occupation, underreporting happens when the victims are in the police force as there may be
a stigma around members of the police workforce being victims. As for financial factors, this
may have an increase in underreporting as people feel that they are dependent on the other
person as their income is low.
Something that occurs the most in factors that influence DVA is biological factors. This is
because there is a constant mention of gender when it comes to DVA cases. However,
gender is something that can be analysed in multiple ways. The most common thought for
cases of domestic abuse is the female victim and male offender, however, this is not always
the case. Brennan et al (2023) proved that in a study of 876 participants where their
profession was working with the police force, 38.4% of the victims of DVA were male. This
works out to about 336 male victims. the study also showed that some of the male victims
experienced emotional and physical abuse and that they were also victims of DVA where the
offender was a police officer themselves. However, it is not known what the statistics are to
support this. McPhee et al. (2022) explained the gender differences when it comes to DVA,
, the number of male victims to female victims was low, with only 19.5% of the cases used in
the study having a male victim. Using biological factors to explain DVA shows that DVA can
be experienced by any gender, but there is not a fair comparison between males and
females. There are no studies that tend to focus just on male victims of domestic abuse. This
might be due to the underreporting of the crime by men, meaning there is not enough data to
be able to complete a full study. This might be because there is a stigma around men being
the more dominant gender and therefore shouldn’t be getting abused.
Gaps in this research mean that there is space open for new research to be conducted and
fill these gaps, which will help with further and more focused support for victims of domestic
violence. One gap that this research has highlighted is using police-recorded data has not
provided enough data for studies. When conducting research it might be better to collect
new data, police data can be unfinished and not provide enough information to fully answer
research questions, quite often they just provide statistics. Statistics are good but there is
also the fact of underreporting not providing enough statistics to make sure that the variables
being compared can be equal. Another gap in research is that there is a lack of focus on
male victims of DVA. This means there is a lack of data to use in a study. There are a few
reasons that might explain this, firstly it might be that there is no data, underreporting in men
is a big issue due to stigma, and this needs to be addressed in research to provide more
support for male victims. However, the focus may be on female victims as the researchers
take a feminist approach and only focus on the women victims and when comparing
statistics, they make it look like DVA is only committed by men or that men don’t get abused.
Hypothesis
In this study, the research question analyses how reporting rates of domestic abuse differ
across England and Wales. Reviewing previous literature based on reporting rates of
domestic abuse and how different factors impact them, the study aims to provide an answer
to how domestic abuse varies in those regions of the UK. The hypothesis suggests that
there will be a significant difference between reporting rates in England and Wales. This is
an alternative hypothesis, as it is predicted that there will be an important difference between
variables. The sort of difference there might be the reporting rates of domestic abuse based
on, working in the police force, poverty, gender and vulnerability.
Methodology
The sample used to collect participants will be a volunteer sample. We will provide an
advertisement for participating and a brief description of what the study is about. If the
participant wants to be involved, they can respond to the advertisement and take part in the
study. The research design that this study uses is cross-sectional, the data is collected at a
single point in time and looks for the relationship between two or more variables. the
independent variables are the things that will be changed in the study. These will be gender,
class, age and ethnicity. The dependent variable is the one that will be controlled, this is the
reports of DVA. In the study, age, class, gender and ethnicity will be used to see how they
affect the reports of DVA. A closed- questionnaire will be used, asking yes/no questions that
the participant will answer, this is how data will be collected. Some examples of questions
the participant will have to answer are: what is your age? what is your gender? what is your
social class? what is your ethnicity? Have you or someone you know ever experienced
DVA?. Participants will be asked to fill in a questionnaire answering to the best of their ability,
if there are any questions they do not want to answer they do not have to provide an answer.
Introduction
Domestic Violence is an issue that affects the lives of people worldwide. In the UK this is a
criminal offence and in this grant bid, factors will be explored to try and explain the link
between them and Domestic Violence. Some of these factors include biological and
Socioeconomic. Research gaps are highlighted, and a study is proposed to try and explain
how Domestic Violence differs across England and Wales.
Literature Review
Domestic Violence Abuse (DVA) is one of the most common offences in the UK to affect
families and relationships. It is influenced by numerous factors including social, economic
and gender. DVA cannot be explained for any reason as the offences differ so much
between victims and no two victims will have experienced the same thing. Domestic
Violence is something we can try to understand by researching how there are differences
based on different variables, to be able to offer help and support to victims by knowing the
warning signs or making sure there are support systems in place. Socio-economic factors
include factors that strongly influence DVA rates. Socio-economic factors include household
income, occupation and religion. In the UK, occupation and finance tend to be the most
common factors in DVA cases. For example, Brennan et al (2023) examined occupation as a
factor of DVA. This study was the first of its kind to be conducted and focused on reviewing
DVA within the police workforce. the study was completed to fill any research gaps and
found that of 876 respondents 23% (201.48) reported they had been a victim of domestic
abuse while working for the police force and the risk for females was 61% higher for
females. Additionally, 27% (236.52) of the 876 respondents reported that the offender also
worked within the police force. This research suggests that DVA can be influenced by
occupation. Similarly, Fahmy et al (2018) examined socio-economic factors as a causal
factor of DVA. In this study, evidence was analysed to show a link between poverty and DVA.
The results found that in households with less than 10k income, women are 3.5x more likely
to experience DVA than women living in a household with 20k income. This research
suggests that household income and poverty as factors that can affect the rates of DVA in
the UK. Considering occupational and financial factors influencing violent behaviour in
intimate relationships, underreporting is something that is increased. In the case of
occupation, underreporting happens when the victims are in the police force as there may be
a stigma around members of the police workforce being victims. As for financial factors, this
may have an increase in underreporting as people feel that they are dependent on the other
person as their income is low.
Something that occurs the most in factors that influence DVA is biological factors. This is
because there is a constant mention of gender when it comes to DVA cases. However,
gender is something that can be analysed in multiple ways. The most common thought for
cases of domestic abuse is the female victim and male offender, however, this is not always
the case. Brennan et al (2023) proved that in a study of 876 participants where their
profession was working with the police force, 38.4% of the victims of DVA were male. This
works out to about 336 male victims. the study also showed that some of the male victims
experienced emotional and physical abuse and that they were also victims of DVA where the
offender was a police officer themselves. However, it is not known what the statistics are to
support this. McPhee et al. (2022) explained the gender differences when it comes to DVA,
, the number of male victims to female victims was low, with only 19.5% of the cases used in
the study having a male victim. Using biological factors to explain DVA shows that DVA can
be experienced by any gender, but there is not a fair comparison between males and
females. There are no studies that tend to focus just on male victims of domestic abuse. This
might be due to the underreporting of the crime by men, meaning there is not enough data to
be able to complete a full study. This might be because there is a stigma around men being
the more dominant gender and therefore shouldn’t be getting abused.
Gaps in this research mean that there is space open for new research to be conducted and
fill these gaps, which will help with further and more focused support for victims of domestic
violence. One gap that this research has highlighted is using police-recorded data has not
provided enough data for studies. When conducting research it might be better to collect
new data, police data can be unfinished and not provide enough information to fully answer
research questions, quite often they just provide statistics. Statistics are good but there is
also the fact of underreporting not providing enough statistics to make sure that the variables
being compared can be equal. Another gap in research is that there is a lack of focus on
male victims of DVA. This means there is a lack of data to use in a study. There are a few
reasons that might explain this, firstly it might be that there is no data, underreporting in men
is a big issue due to stigma, and this needs to be addressed in research to provide more
support for male victims. However, the focus may be on female victims as the researchers
take a feminist approach and only focus on the women victims and when comparing
statistics, they make it look like DVA is only committed by men or that men don’t get abused.
Hypothesis
In this study, the research question analyses how reporting rates of domestic abuse differ
across England and Wales. Reviewing previous literature based on reporting rates of
domestic abuse and how different factors impact them, the study aims to provide an answer
to how domestic abuse varies in those regions of the UK. The hypothesis suggests that
there will be a significant difference between reporting rates in England and Wales. This is
an alternative hypothesis, as it is predicted that there will be an important difference between
variables. The sort of difference there might be the reporting rates of domestic abuse based
on, working in the police force, poverty, gender and vulnerability.
Methodology
The sample used to collect participants will be a volunteer sample. We will provide an
advertisement for participating and a brief description of what the study is about. If the
participant wants to be involved, they can respond to the advertisement and take part in the
study. The research design that this study uses is cross-sectional, the data is collected at a
single point in time and looks for the relationship between two or more variables. the
independent variables are the things that will be changed in the study. These will be gender,
class, age and ethnicity. The dependent variable is the one that will be controlled, this is the
reports of DVA. In the study, age, class, gender and ethnicity will be used to see how they
affect the reports of DVA. A closed- questionnaire will be used, asking yes/no questions that
the participant will answer, this is how data will be collected. Some examples of questions
the participant will have to answer are: what is your age? what is your gender? what is your
social class? what is your ethnicity? Have you or someone you know ever experienced
DVA?. Participants will be asked to fill in a questionnaire answering to the best of their ability,
if there are any questions they do not want to answer they do not have to provide an answer.
