Cycle of Violence

Walker's Cycle of Violence and the Three Stages

Lenore Walker’s, “Cycle of Violence” has a three stage sequence of events that occurs in violent relationships. During the first stage, tension builds up between the couple. This results in minor acts of violence, verbal outbursts, and getting mad at everything and anything and violent threats occur in this stage.

The second phase is when the battering actually occurs. This is the stage where the victim calls the police and/or family members. During this stage, the victim might do something to make the beater mad so she can get some power and/or control and get the beating over and done with.

During the third phase, which is called the loving contrite phase, the beater will continuously say sorry and say that it will never happen again. He tells her how much he loves her. He will also say that if she did what he wanted her to, he would have never beaten her. After this phase it is just a matter of time before stage one occurs (Walker).

My Perception towards Walker's Cycle

I have read a lot about domestic violence and I thought that this was important in knowing about domestic violence. The cycle was intriguing to me because the situation does not seem to get better, but what ends up happening is that the same exact steps occur over and over.

I feel that the cycle is ridiculous because when my friend Claudia's mother would get beaten, her husband would tell her that it will never happen again and that he had a bad day at work. Claudia's mother would listen to him and think that everything will be alright after that, but it just kept happening time in and time out.

I believe that even if a person does not live in a household such as this, him/her has an opinion and/or something to say about domestic violence. Many people may have had friends or family that have been in this situation and they couldn't do anything about it. I believe this is such a bad situation and I would hope that one day it stops. But guess what? It is a never ending process.

Devine, L. J. (2008). Lenore Walker's Cycle of Violence. Retrieved October 29, 2008, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Lenore-Walkers-Cycle-of-Violence&id=1366375