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Ending Domestic Violence: Changing Public Perceptions/Halting the Epidemic

NCJ Number
174105
Author(s)
E Klein; J Campbell; E Soler; M Ghez
Date Published
1997
Length
190 pages
Annotation
Information collected through public opinion surveys gathered for the Family Violence Prevention Fund from 1992 to 1996 were used to analyze current public attitudes toward domestic assault and intervention and to suggest ways to develop more effective primary prevention media education programs.
Abstract
The initial information was collected in 1992, prior to the development of a national public education campaign aimed at reducing the incidence of violence against women and promoting women's right to safety in the home. The baseline survey used oversampling among black, Hispanic, and Asian American women to increase knowledge about the relationship of ethnicity to public perceptions and experiences of domestic violence. The Advertising Council sponsored the media campaign, which was titled "There's No Excuse for Domestic Violence." Subsequent research took place in 1994-96 to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of that effort. The analysis details the history of the battered women's movement, including changes in public concern about the problem; and public perceptions of the extent of domestic violence. It also focused on people's own personal experience of the problem, public attribution of blame for domestic assault, the point at which the public is willing to intervene, and the cultural context as it relates to domestic violence. Findings indicated how people currently perceive the issue of domestic violence and how best to persuade them to become involved in ending it in the 21st century. Tables, index, appended methodological information, and 89 references