Justifying domestic violence against current/former partner Justifications of violence against partners foster a culture of entitlement, assertion of authority, and a means of punishment when perceived gender role expectations are transgressed (Webster et al., 2018). Few residents in Wagga Wagga agreed with the various justifications a partner may use domestic violence in their relationship. Approximately 3 to 4 residents out of every 100 agreed there was a justification for domestic violence (see figure 8). These levels of agreement have not significantly dropped from 2016 to 2021 among the residents in the Wagga Wagga community. The justification that got the highest level of agreement in 2021 was for a partner to get access to get to their children, while in 2016 it was that their partner had sex with someone else. The justification with the least amount of support in 2021 and 2016 was if a partner is ending or trying to end a relationship.
Gender In 2021 there were discrepancies between males and females on the circumstances in which domestic violence can be justified. Males in Wagga Wagga (6.0%) were 5 times more likely to agree that had sex with someone else is a reasonable justification for engaging in domestic violence behaviours than females in Wagga Wagga (1.3%). Additionally, males (5.6%) were also 4.9 times more likely to agree that domestic violence if justified if the perpetrator is made to look stupid, than females (1.3%). For the remaining three justifications, males and females had similarly low levels of agreement.
Figure 8. Responses (as percentages of the entire survey population) that identify the circumstances residents believe domestic violence can be justified.
Age A worrying trend with respect to age is the result that the youngest respondents were more likely to justify use of violence (see Table 12). For example, residents aged 18 to 24 were 12 times more likely to state domestic violence is justifiable if the partner had sex with someone else compared to residents aged over 55, while those aged 25 to 39 were 13.8 times more likely to justify, and 40- to 55-year-old residents were 5.6 times more likely to justify the
