Intimate partner violence: contextual and predictive factors

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an empirical study focused on criminal and medico-legal aspects of intimate partner violence. Method Files classified as gender violence from the prosecutor office of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, NW Spain) were examined and analysed. A descriptive statistical analysis, testing the possible association of variables was carried out with the statistical package SPSS. Results Even though the majority of the examined cases ended in conviction, the number of those with a not guilty verdict was considerable. Victim´s own testimony seemed to be one of the strongest evidence of the abuse but her final decision about whether she testifies is mainly influenced by contextual factors which we identified and analyzed in this study. We have verified that alcohol and / or drugs abuse play a significant role in the dynamic of the aggression and that offenders previous police or criminal records is a major factor in predicting future criminal conducts. Our data suggest also that aggressiveness and violence escalate during divorce or separation and that medico-legal documents are an important piece in gender-based violence criminal proceedings.