Over the past few decades, society has begun to come to grips with the insidious nature of domestic violence and its prevalence throughout every segment of our communities. Domestic violence is a scourge that cuts across racial, ethnic, religious gender and economic lines, and includes not only physical assaults, but psychological and emotional abuse.
But society—and consequently the courts—have yet to fully appreciate or understand the role that cultural perspectives play in the incidence and prosecution of domestic violence cases. It’s difficult for any person to pursue a domestic violence case against a spouse or partner, partially because of the psychological coercion the abuser utilizes, but especially so for a woman from a culture with deep-rooted beliefs about corporal punishment in the marital relationship.
