IS ABUSE AN EXCUSE?Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force On Violence And The Family
ISSUES AND DILEMMAS IN FAMILY VIOLENCE
IS ABUSE AN EXCUSE?
Generally people feel compassion for abuse victims, along with understanding and forgiveness for some of their undesirable behaviors, but often those attitudes conflict with the need to hold people personally accountable for their behavior.
Are people not taking responsibility for their own behavior and using abuse as an excuse? Some say that society has begun to blame prior abuse for all reprehensible behavior, thus creating a victim-culture which rewards remaining a victim rather than healing and getting on with life. They point to the proliferation of television talk show hosts who interview victims of all kinds of abuse as encouraging the victim-culture attitude, as well as to legal defenses using evidence of child or adult abuse as another example.
People who are abused suffer many consequences, and in some cases those consequences may bring harm to other people. While most abused persons do not become violent, the absence of treatment or other helpful interventions for victims of abuse appears to be related to their later involvement in violence or other destructive behaviors. Treating patterns of violence and victimization can be extremely difficult, requiring multidimensional approaches to change motivation and behavior, and careful, sustained follow-up.
A long-term view, then, calls for a commitment to providing ways for victims to resolve the negative feelings and patterns of behavior that often result from a history of abuse. After sufficient and appropriate assistance is provided, victims can be expected to seek help for themselves and to take individual responsibility for their own behavior.
http://www.apa.org/pi/pii/familyvio/issue11.html