Abstract
Past research on domestic violence has concentrated on violence between married couples and concluded that "the marriage license is a hitting license." The present study questions this link and demonstrates that violence reported to the police is not restricted to married couples but is also prevalent among unmarried or dating couples as well as divorced ones. A link between intimacy and violence is suggested. Violence among couples with ongoing relationships is similar in its intensity, time, and place of occurrence compared with violence patterns among divorcees. Divorcees tend to resort to the police to settle less serious incidents. The legal definitions of the violent incidents reflect different degrees of liberty that intimates with different marital status may take with each other. The proportion of arrest are similar for all categories of intimates.
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