Formal and Informal Social Control of Family Violence: A Comparison of Protective and Punitive Approaches With Respect to Family Heterogeneity

When intimate partner violence (IPV) is deterred or completely avoided, children benefit by living in a more stable, secure familial environment free from violence. This chapter reviews the research literature, with a particular focus on the relationship between social control and IPV, organizing the literature on both formal and informal social control into protective and punitive subtypes. Restorative justice approaches are conceptualized as situated primarily within the protective subtype, but evidence suggests that they may merit their own subtype, termed restitute social control. Finally, the chapter argues that social control of IPV and family violence must be based on an appropriate understanding of the role of family heterogeneity in the trajectory of IPV and family violence.