Scott Sheehan, & Dr. Daniel Sandoval
Scholars have attempted to emphasize the importance of supporting survivors of domestic violence. It has become accepted that one in four women will be the victim of domestic violence at some point within their lives. When studying the dynamic of recidivism within acts of domestic violence, scholars have not been able to properly share the challenges that victims face. Many people within society are not familiar with how this affects the individual post incident. Many times the woman in the case of a repeat offense is blamed even though she is the one experiencing another traumatizing event. This response is unjust, and we should instead look at underlying factors that may lead to an answer of why this happens. In order to gain better insight of this issue, I have examined the Family Justice Center of Ventura County. The Family Justice Center, also known as the FJC, is a resource and support center for those affected by domestic violence. Based on the FJC’s intake data from 2019-2023 they have aided roughly 15,000 individuals. More than 300 have been repeat visitors. In an attempt to predict why this many people have suffered repeat instances of domestic violence, I have created a quantitative study using chi-square and regression analysis tests that determines which factors lead to higher rates of recidivism in cases of domestic violence. Preliminary analyses of the Ventura County FJC’s intake data suggest that age, primary language, and city are statistically significant, while gang affiliation is not.