Domestic Violence is progressive. Given this fact, we gain insights into why the person who is subjected to this violence doesn’t just leave.
The primary reason given by victims of domestic violence for staying or returning to the perpetrator is fear of violence in consequence of leaving and the lack of real options for safety with their children.This fear of the violence is realistic. Research on battered women shows that the lethality of the perpetrator’s violence often increases when the perpetrator believes that the victim has left or is about to leave the relationship (Campbell, J., 1992, Wilson & Daly, 1993). This certainly held true for Tuan Dao’s case.
The literature suggests several indicators for homicide against the victim: the perpetrators’ obsession with the victim, a pattern of escalating physical violence — increased risk-taking by the batterer; threats to kill the victim and self; substance abuse; and a gun in the household (Campbell, J., 1992; Saunders, 1994; Hart & Gondolf, 1984; Kellerman, et al., 1993). In Tuan Dao’s history, there are threats of suicide but not homicide. He did however, in recent years, escalate his violence in the home and in fact, at times, he took out his frustrations on his children, using punishment as a front through which he expressed his frustration with his inability to cope.
