Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
Definition
Physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse. Encompasses physical assault, sexual coercion, emotional abuse, and coercive control. Not limited to any gender, though women are disproportionately represented as survivors of severe physical IPV.
- Forms
- Physical, sexual, and psychological harm, including coercive control
- Relationship scope
- Current or former partner or spouse
- Gender scope
- Not limited to any gender
- Field
- Violent crime and victimology
Common questions
How does coercive control fit within the definition of intimate partner violence?+
Coercive control covers a pattern of controlling behaviour, such as isolating a partner from friends and family, monitoring communications, or restricting finances, that may involve no single physical assault yet still causes serious harm, which is why several jurisdictions have criminalised it separately from individual assault incidents.
Why is IPV risk assessment treated as a distinct forensic task?+
Because the pattern of escalation, the relationship history, and access the perpetrator has to the victim differ from stranger violence, structured tools such as the Danger Assessment were developed specifically to estimate the likelihood of serious or lethal repeat violence within an intimate relationship.
Related terms
- Coercive Control
- A pattern of behaviour in intimate relationships that seeks to deny autonomy and dominate the victim through means including isolation, monitoring, financial...
- Danger Assessment (DA)
- A 20-item validated instrument developed by Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell for estimating the risk of intimate-partner homicide or near-lethal assault. Combines a weighted...
- Dark Figure of Crime
- The gap between the actual volume of crime and the amount recorded in official statistics. Crimes go unrecorded when victims do not...
- Gini Coefficient
- A measure of income inequality ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (one person holds all income). Consistently one of the strongest...
- Hegemonic Masculinity
- A concept from gender sociology describing the dominant cultural script of manhood in a given society, typically emphasising toughness, control, and willingness...
- Homicide Rate
- The number of unlawful killings per 100,000 population per year. Used as the primary cross-national indicator of violent crime because it is...
- PWDV Act 2005
- Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (India). Provides civil remedies -- protection orders, residence orders, monetary relief -- for women...
- Repeat Victimisation
- The empirical pattern in which a small proportion of people or locations experience a disproportionate share of violent incidents. Domestic violence shows...
- Safety Planning
- A collaborative process in which the nurse and patient identify practical steps to reduce immediate danger: documents to keep accessible, people to...
- Universal Screening
- Asking all patients in a clinical setting about IPV exposure, regardless of presenting complaint or risk appearance. Contrasted with targeted screening, which...
Explained in these topics
- Intimate-Partner Violence and the Danger Assessment
- Violent Crime as a Social PhenomenonPhysical, sexual, or psychological harm caused by a current or former romantic partner. The most common form of domestic violence globally. Heavily gendered in...