Domestic violence: a micro-level terrorism? : a criminological approach to intra-family human rights violations in the European Union countries

Abstract

Domestic violence is still an actual issue in the European Union, despite its constituting a standard for the promotion and protection of Human Rights. A lot of EU citizens still regard this phenomenon as socially acceptable and many victims do not complain to the authorities when such acts occur; therefore, the statistics show only the tip of the iceberg in what concerns these crimes. In order to raise the awareness regarding the social danger of the intra-family abuse, this paper demonstrates that domestic violence can be interpreted as a form of micro-level terrorism. The similarities between these two human rights violations can be found in the psychological aspects of the crimes, the triggering mechanisms and their effective manifestations. Considering that the key to solving the problem of domestic violence consists in understanding its origins, mechanisms, and the psychological, cultural, social and economic factors that influence its manifestations, this paper extensively describes and analyses all these elements. Moreover, this study provides guidelines for a treatment of domestic violence, after examining the phenomenon's extent and the public attitudes towards it and by making a critical analysis of the legislative and other supportive measures dealing with these crimes in the EU states.