Domestic Violence is behaviour that is adopted by a person to control their victim. It is a behaviour that results in physical, sexual and/or psychological damage, forced social isolation or economic deprivation, or that leaves a person living in fear. These behaviours are perpetrated by someone who is well known to the survivor.
Domestic violence affects many men, women and children in Territory families. Nearly a quarter of the respondents in a recent survey knew families in which there was abuse. The seriousness of this problem is seen every day in community health centres and hospitals.