Torture at Home: Borrowing from the Torture Convention to Define Domestic Violence

This article utilizes a psychological or behavioural perspective to analyze the domestic violence laws in the United States and concludes that at the very least, states should amend child custody laws to include mental abuse in their definition of domestic violence. The author uses "mental abuse" to refer to verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse, and discusses each of these in turn. The article explains the behavioural approach to law and establishes background information on the phenomenon of domestic violence. Major theories of domestic violence that have been proposed are discussed. The author argues that the psychological theory of domestic violence suggests that the legal system should implement more effective deterrents and sanctions for the mental abuse of one family member by another, especially when the victim is a child.