PAPER: Utilizing the Cycle of Violence Theory to Inform Intimate Partner Violence Policy: A Framework for Law Enforcement
Overview of the Cycle of Violence Theory
To effectively police and prevent intimate partner violence (IPV), law enforcement must understand the underlying mechanisms that perpetuate it. The cycle of violence theory remains the most enduring explanation for why victims stay in abusive relationships (Olson, 2013)
The Tension-Building Phase: During this initial phase, the aggressor expresses hostility and dissatisfaction, while the victim attempts to placate the partner to control the anger (Olson, 2013)
. The Acute Battering Phase: Eventually, the aggressor's angry response breaks through the victim's efforts to please them, resulting in a severe psychological or physical acute battering incident (Olson, 2013)
. The Loving-Contrition Phase: Following the abuse, the aggressor may show remorse, apologize profusely, and shower the victim with gifts or promises (Olson, 2013)
. This phase provides the positive reinforcement necessary for the victim to remain in the relationship and renew their hope in the abuser's ability to change (Olson, 2013) .
Over time, these phases operate to normalize and romanticize the violence, making it incredibly difficult for victims to escape without outside intervention (Olson, 2013)
Explaining Crime: Domestic Violence and Homicide
The cycle of violence theory provides a critical lens for understanding how IPV escalates to intimate partner homicide (Chae & McWilliams, 2025)
When the Abuser Kills the Victim: Homicide perpetrated by an abuser represents the fatal, ultimate culmination of the acute battering phase (Olson, 2013)
. As the cycle repeats, the abuser relies on increasingly severe expressive aggression and coercive control—such as extreme isolation and tracking the partner's whereabouts—to maintain dominance (Olson, 2013) . When the Victim Kills the Abuser: Alternatively, there are instances where a battered victim kills their abuser (Chae & McWilliams, 2025)
. This is often an act of desperate self-preservation following prolonged exposure to coercive control (Midson, 2016) . Victims who kill their abusers are heavily impacted by battered woman syndrome, which deeply affects legal evaluations of their criminal responsibility (Chae & McWilliams, 2025; Midson, 2016) .
Biological, Psychological, Social, and Structural Variables
Research emphasizes the need for an integrated theoretical model that considers the comprehensive and transactional factors underpinning IPV transmission (McCloud & Abdullah, 2025)
Biological and Psychological Variables: The intergenerational transmission of IPV—from childhood exposure (G1) to perpetration in adulthood (G2)—is largely explained by postulations from psychological theories (McCloud & Abdullah, 2025)
. This intergenerational transmission of trauma leaves profound psychological scars and normalizes violence exposure for children in the home (Cervantes & Sherman, 2021) . Social Variables: Claims regarding IPV transmission pathways are also heavily rooted in social learning theory (McCloud & Abdullah, 2025)
. Furthermore, abusers utilize social isolation to cut partners off from their friends, family, and vital resources, trapping them in the abusive social environment (Olson, 2013) . Structural Variables: Economic instability structurally traps victims. Cycles of violence are deeply entrenched in low-income women's intimate relationships due to systemic financial barriers (Cervantes & Sherman, 2021)
.
Crime Reduction Strategies and Theoretical Alignment
To effectively reduce domestic violence and homicide, law enforcement and public policy must disrupt specific phases and variables of this cycle.
1. Strategy: Multidisciplinary Lethality Assessment and Co-Response Teams
Description: Police departments must deploy social workers alongside officers on domestic calls to conduct mandatory lethality assessments.
Theoretical Alignment: This strategy targets the tension-building and acute battering phases (Olson, 2013)
. By identifying escalation early, co-response teams break the social variable of coercive isolation (Olson, 2013) . Furthermore, introducing a professional advocate disrupts the abuser's ability to manipulate the victim during the subsequent loving-contrition phase (Olson, 2013).
2. Strategy: Structural Support and Transitional Housing Pipelines
Description: Law enforcement must establish direct referral pipelines ensuring victims have immediate access to guaranteed transitional housing.
Theoretical Alignment: This policy is directly based on the structural variables that perpetuate cycles of violence in low-income women's relationships (Cervantes & Sherman, 2021)
. By providing housing security, the strategy removes the structural poverty that forces victims to accept the abuser's apologies during the loving-contrition phase merely to survive (Olson, 2013) .
3. Strategy: Trauma-Informed Expert Testimony and Juror Education
Description: The IACP should advocate for legal guidelines standardizing the use of expert testimony on battered woman syndrome and coercive control in cases where victims kill their abusers (Chae & McWilliams, 2025; Midson, 2016)
. Theoretical Alignment: This strategy addresses psychological variables. When a battered victim kills their abuser, expert testimony is critical for contextualizing the psychological impacts of the abuse on mock jurors' decision-making (Chae & McWilliams, 2025)
. It relies on the theoretical tenet that prolonged coercive control fundamentally alters a victim's criminal responsibility (Midson, 2016) .
Summary
These policies systematically dismantle the mechanisms that allow domestic abuse to thrive. Multidisciplinary lethality assessments will most directly reduce intimate partner homicides by identifying dangerous acute battering phases before they turn lethal (Olson, 2013)
References
Cervantes, M. V., & Sherman, J. (2021). Falling for the ones that were abusive: Cycles of violence in low-income women's intimate relationships. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(13-14), NP7567-NP7595.
Chae, H., & McWilliams, K. (2025). When a battered victim kills their abuser: The impact of child and expert testimony on mock jurors' decision-making. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(17-18), 4010-4032.
McCloud, B., & Abdullah, A. (2025). Theoretical analysis of the cycle of intimate partner violence: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 26(5), 1064-1081.
Midson, B. (2016). Coercive control and criminal responsibility: Victims who kill their abusers. Criminal Law Forum, 27(4), 417-442.
Olson, K. M. (2013). An epideictic dimension of symbolic violence in Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Inter-generational lessons in romanticizing and tolerating intimate partner violence. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 99(4), 448-480.
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