Positivistism And Domestic Violence

Positivist Paradigm Positivist acknowledge that there is a need for research on why some turn to domestic violence during a dispute, disagreement, or bad day, while others deal with these problems differently. This perspective uses behavior and the influence of this behavior to answer this question. Also unlike the classical perspective this perspective considers many more factors that can affect a potential offender to offend, and a past offender to reoffend. Explaining domestic violence offender’s actions in terms of factors that indirectly affect their choices. Positivist would consider addressing domestic violence by focusing on curing the offender instead of punishing them (Cullen, Agnew, & Wilcox, 2014). The first task of the positivist …show more content…
Comparing the three paradigms addressed above I believe that the positivist perspective would provide the best explanation of domestic violence. Offenders of domestic violence do not seem to participate in this crime because of seeking pleasure, there’s often other issues needed to be addressed. For example, uncontrollable anger could prevent offenders from considering the consequences of hitting their spouse, partner or cohabitant. This example also points out that ‘rational choice’ and ‘free-will’ are not always present when criminal behavior takes place. I was also able to find a study that examined domestic violence arrest rates in a community that provided little training on domestic violence. Although this study is fairly old it found that there is a need for police departments to have more than just a pro-arrest policy in place to address domestic violence calls (Bourg & Stock, 1994). Supporting positivist belief that punishment should not be the main focus. Instead, determining the effectiveness of new policies and what can be done besides punishment to decrease domestic violence rates across the