The abused to abuser theory of offending is not widely supported by the literature. Not only does this notion suffer from deficits common to all single explanation models, but also has the potential to further stigmatise victims of abuse. However, using a case study, this paper will argue that the impact of abuse should be more carefully considered at both the aetiological, assessment and intervention levels for various forms of family violence. It will be proposed that the impact of abuse could, for some individuals, be conceptualised as a core risk factor for different types of violent offending. However, in order to fully realise the potential benefits of this stance a more unified approach to forensic issues is needed with integration of information from multiple theoretical perspective, and practice dimensions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.