Abstract
With the high rates of domestic violence that occurs globally, this study investigated a total number of 104 social work and criminal justice students understanding of domestic violence and their future roles in working with this population. The quantitative questionnaire the researcher designed inquired respondents’ perspectives on family violence, interpersonal violence, and then the presumed roles of social workers or police officers. Descriptive and inferential statistics including chi-square and t-test were used to analyze the data collected. These analyses revealed that social work students consistently had a higher perception of domestic violence than criminal justice students. Results also showed that female students understood domestic violence more than the male students, yet both genders had a low understanding of family violence. In addition, both majors showed a poor perception of their future roles for the majority of the questions. These results show the importance for additional trainings for students while they are still in school since sufficient professional training is often not offered once they begin their careers. It is recommended by the researcher that criminal justice students receive the most training with a required semester of domestic violence education that includes professional role education. It is also recommended by the researcher that social work students receive an additional month of education focusing on family violence and professional roles in working with victims on domestic violence during one of their other courses.