When women abuse: female violence in the long-term relationships in Poland

This exploratory research investigates the reasons for and perpetration of domestic violence and coercive control by women towards their long-term current or former male partners. It identifies several measurable characteristics of the alleged perpetrators, victims, their relationships, and the Judicial System's response to the cases reported. It aims to identify the key variables that play a role in abuse perpetration and the areas for further research. Non-random, consecutive samples of data were retrieved from the prosecution and court case files: of 50 cases in Warsaw and 134 in Lublin, Poland. The areas with a similar number of inhabitants were sampled. A mixed-method was applied to record the information; qualitative data were converted into categorical variables to conduct descriptive and inferential statistics: Chi² test of association and multiple Z-tests of two proportions with Boneferroni adjustment. The samples were compared with the non-criminal population of Poland for the number of children and the structure of education. Results showed the main themes emerging: economic issues, women empowerment, alcohol, age and age difference between the partners, self-defence and defending children. Many similarities between the criminal samples from both places in the age structure of partners, number of children, patterns of age and income differences, and alcohol use during the perpetration were found, however, the differences in reporting self-defence, and education structure were present. The abuse was mostly bidirectional; a mixture of more than one kind of coercive control tactics and physical abuse; while the reasons related to the use of the family property and monetary resources. The reasons for violence use varied for the women with three and more children depending on whether they enlisted the accomplices or abused alone. The implications of the findings and areas for future research are discussed.