The goal of this annotated bibliography is to survey the issue of domestic violence as it impacts child abuse. Several months ago, an attorney friend of mine and I were talking about the domestic abuse legislation which has been promulgated in the last four to five years. His comment was that, rather than passing more laws, traditional laws addressing assault, battery, and stalking should have been sufficient, if applied properly. While his statement is accurate in theory, I believe, after compiling this collection of articles, that there is an inherent difference between the nature of those other crimes, and domestic violence. This fundamental difference requires legislation which explicitly states, "if any party physically injures his or her spouse, or significant other, or former significant other, he or she will be arrested and, under certain conditions, will be incarcerated." The specificity is necessary, because, unlike robbery, kidnapping, and murder, the law has not always supported the theory that spouses and lovers, and more to the point, that men, should not hit women. The articles by Yvette Mabbun and Reva Siegel, cited later in this bibliography, describe the overt permission that was granted to husbands to apply force to control their wives in English common law. This behavior was condoned in American until the Reconstruction period in the late nineteenth century. In fact, the "rule of thumb" slogan originated from the policy permitting men to strike their wives, as long as the object used was no larger in diameter than the man’s thumb. Therefore, additional legislation is needed to undo the layers of assumptions in western culture about the way women should be treated.

The nexus between domestic violence and child abuse in this bibliography refers, first to the overarching problem of domestic violence, and then acknowledges the affect that domestic violence has on child abuse issues. The impact that violence in the home has on children is, in and of itself, abusive. In addition, the children learn or accept violent behavior as a way of life, and either repeat it in adulthood, or are silent victims of it. 

The literature in this bibliography reviews the status of domestic abuse, first in general terms, and then by focusing on domestic abuse in minority populations. References to minority populations in this bibliography are consistent with the nomenclatures chosen by the authors of the materials covered. For example, if an author refers to a woman of Spanish dissent as "Hispanic," rather than "Lation," I have done the same.

The four minorities groups addressed in this paper are the African American, Asian-American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American groups. The Appalachian population is sometimes referred to as a minority entity, but is addressed only peripherally in this bibliography. A very interesting principle was noted when examining the frequency and nature of domestic violence in these four minority groups. Studies across the board demonstrated that couples living in extended families or in social neighborhood or community settings were less likely to experience the phenomenon of physical abuse. I believe the rationale is attributable to several factors. First, the social pressure not to abuse is greater if people live in an open, more communicative setting. For example, among the Asian-Americans and Native Americans, physical abuse was culturally unacceptable, so the pressure not to abuse was exercised. Secondly, low incidence in minority communities may be attributable to the negative implication doctrine. A personality trait of an abuser is his desire to isolate his victim. In cultures where the peer pressure is high to integrate with the community or family at large, the behavior may either be suppressed to comply with the norm, or the abuse may choose to isolate, by moving away from the group setting. 

This bibliography has helped me reach three conclusions about domestic violence and child abuse. The first conclusion is that domestic violence is self-perpetuating, and teaches children that abuse is an acceptable form of behavior. My second conclusion is that dealing with domestic violence in the white community and the minority communities requires different approaches. Even the definition of the word "victim" varies. Finally, I think the new laws provide sufficient support for domestic violence victims and their children. The next step toward making inroads in the field of domestic abuse is educational. Referring to the annotated article by Jo Carson appearing in this bibliography, and my reaction therein, that awareness of the high incidence of domestic violence in American’s homes is fundamental to solving its problems. To exercise real change, I believe that the desire to solve the problem must be as focuses as that demonstrated by the proponents of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.