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20 Harv. Women's L.J. 205 (1997)
Criminalizing the Exposure of Children to Family Violence: Breaking the Cycle of Abuse

handle is hein.journals/hwlj20 and id is 211 raw text is: CRIMINALIZING THE EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN TO FAMILY VIOLENCE: BREAKING THE CYCLE OF ABUSE AUDREY E. STONE* REBECCA J. FIALK** I. INTRODUCTION Witnessing domestic violence scars children for life.1 Exposing chil- dren to family violence harms us all because the child witness learns behavior that traps generations of families in cycles of abuse.2 Men who as children saw their parents physically attack each other are three times more likely to hit their own spouses than men from nonviolent homes.3 Women who witnessed their mothers being abused are more likely to assume the role of the victim in future relationships.4 Too often, the legal response to violence in the home has been to victimize abused women *Associate Director, Pace University Battered Women's Justice Center; J.D., New York University School of Law, 1991; A.B., Brown University, 1986. I want to give credit to my research assistant, Rebecca Fialk. ** Third-year law student, Pace University School of Law; M.A., University of Kansas, 1973; B.S.N., Cornell University, 1975. i See THE IMPACT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON CHILDREN: A REPORT TO THE PRESI- DENT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION (1994). The A.B.A. concludes that children can suffer grievous harm merely by observing or hearing the domestic terrorism of brutality against a parent at home.' Id. at 1. The report further states that children who live in homes where there is domestic violence are more likely than others to become batterers of their partners when they become adults. Id. They also view violence among intimate companions as an acceptable or inevitable norm. Id. 2 See NATIONAL CENTER ON WOMEN AND FAMILY LAW, INC., THE EFFECTS OF WOMAN ABUSE ON CHILDREN: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND LEGAL AUTHORITY 10-12 (1994). 3 See Alan J. Tomkins et al., The Plight of Children Who Witness Woman Battering: Psychological Knowledge and Policy Implications, 18 LAW & PSYCHOL. REv. 137, 150 (1994) (citing MURRAY A. STRAUS ET AL., BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: VIOLENCE IN THE AMERICAN FAMILY 100 (1980)); see also MARGI LAIRD McCuE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 105-06 (1995) (citing Gerald T. Hotaling & David B. Sugarman, An Analysis of Risk Markers in Husband to Wife Violence: The Current State of Knowledge, 1 VIOLENCE & VICTIMS 101 (1986)). 4See Richard C. Reuben, The Forgotten Victims: New A.B.A. Domestic Violence Program Reaches Out to Children, 82 A.B.A. J. 104 (1996). Battered women who were abused as children also reported that they came to expect violence in their marriage and saw very few options to end the violence. Tomkins et al., supra note 3, at 151. Other studies indicate that 80% of women interviewed in shelters reported witnessing their father assault their mother. See PETER G. JAFFE ET AL., CHILDREN OF BATTERED WOMEN 20 (1990) (discussing the developmental, emotional, and psychological consequences for children who witness domestic violence).

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