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4.0 out of 5 stars
Understanding different kinds of partner violence, February 16, 2011
A Typology of Domestic Violence provides a comprehensive and useful coverage of Michael Johnson's categories of partner violence offenders, despite the not insignificant limitation that Johnson has a strong pro-feminist perspective. Johnson has made one of the more useful contributions to the science of understanding partner violence, in particular by identifying that different kinds of surveys of different populations produce very different results with regard to the prevalence and nature of male and female perpetration, a result which was, and still is to some extent, a cause of much controversy in the field. This led to Johnson's 'unifying' explication, which included what any clinician working with high conflict couples would already have known from practise: that much violence between couples is bilateral, if not actually symmetrical, and in these cases issues of power and control are more to do with the nature and stage of the relationship than the external sociopolitical environment of male privilege.
Johnson is in a somewhat awkward position theoretically by holding strongly to the belief that women practise controlling, coercive violence (CCV)(referred to as intimate terrorism in the book), much less often than men. His 'unifying' theory that studies of different populations produce different outcomes leaves him with one foot in the boat of feminist theory and the other in the boat of family violence theory, with his feet an uncomfortable distance apart. Given that studies that identify higher levels of partner violence by women also indicate that women do cause significant injury to male partners (albeit it be at a somewhat lower rate than male violence against female partners), there has to be more consideration given to the possibility of women committing CCV. It can't be minimised as Johnson attempts to do.
However, notwithstanding that, Johnson does provide a useful framework for clinicians in understanding the nature of partner violence that may present, and hence whether or not it is safe or appropriate to proceed with counselling for the couple, separately or together.
The section on separation-initiated violence, though brief and inadequate, does at least raise this as a matter of importance for clinicians working with a victim of partner violence who is on the point of ending the relationship. There are situations where the victim may be at greater risk of violence at or after separation, and this has to be handled very carefully by the clinician and the target of the violence.
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