Domestic violence: aggressor's profile and crime characteristics

• Autor(a) principal: Figueiredo, Diana
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Nunes, Juliana, Colón, Máximo Fernandez, Gaspar, Helena, Costa, Pissarra
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/45417
• topic: Domestic Violence; Aggressor's Profile; Psychopathology

Background: The actual number of domestic violence crimes is difficult to achieve. It is known that most of the cases of domestic violence remain unreported. There were several myths associated with this type of crime that have been rooted and have remained as truths over time. One of the myths was the association of the practice of domestic violence with the presence of psychopathology in the aggressor. Aims: To outline the socio-demographic and psychological/psychiatric profile of domestic violence perpetrators and to characterize this crime. Methods: Retrospective study of the forensic and social files in which the nature of the process was domestic violence crime that were examined at the Center Delegation of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (DC-INMLCF), dating from January 1st 2013 to December 31st 2015. Results and Conclusions: A total of 266 cases were analyzed. The perpetrator of the crime of domestic violence was a male, aged between 41 and 50 years old, married, spouse of the victim, employed, with no alcohol or drug use habits, no criminal record and no psychopathology. Domestic violence crime was of the physical and psychological type, lasting from 1 month to 5 years, which occurred mainly in the common residence or residence of the victim and in the absence of minors.