Monday marked the end of the 2017 NFL combine, where some 330 prospects were invited to compete in the elite scouting event. But to the disappointment of Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn, at least one talented player was left out: former Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon.

Mixon was absent from the combine last week because of off-field issues. Video surveillance released at the end of last year showed Mixon punching a female Oklahoma student in the face in 2014. He has apologized since the footage was released.

"We're going to leave the door open on Joe. I think it's really disappointing that Joe's not here," Quinn said last week. Quinn has faced criticism for his comments on Mixon, especially after the GM said last year that he had "zero tolerance" for domestic violence.

But Quinn's critics miss a key point: You can support Mixon and be anti-domestic violence.

Mixon committed a violent act against a woman, but he did not commit domestic violence. And it's important that these two offenses not be conflated because it otherwise suggests that domestic violence is an issue solely impacting women and that it requires a violent act. To perpetuate this misunderstanding of domestic abuse only hampers efforts to identify and eradicate it.

When it comes to its victims, domestic violence is not limited to women. Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, reiterated this sentiment last month, saying that while domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, it isn't just a "woman's issue." Its victims include men, children, boyfriends, girlfriends and partners. Any individual can suffer abuse at the hands of a loved one, receiving scars that are lasting and harmful to future relationships.

Domestic violence also doesn't necessarily involve a violent act against an individual. Abusers can control victims by limiting their finances, humiliating the victim, using fear tactics or abusing pets. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates that about 48 percent of women and 49 percent of men have experienced at least one psychologically aggressive tactic by an intimate partner, and 94-99 percent of domestic violence survivors have experienced some type of economic abuse. While there may not be physical harm, emotional abuse can be equally detrimental, as was alleged to be the case with former New York Giants kicker Josh Brown and his then-wife.

What also separates domestic violence from other crimes is that it's marked by a relationship between individuals that involves trust -- such violence necessitates an ongoing or past intimate or close relationship between individuals, such as spouses, family members or romantic partners. In fact, it's the intimacy of the relationship between an abuser and victim that helps enable the crime to go on without detection, often behind closed doors.

When abuse comes to light, the law tries to preserve such trust-based relationships through counseling and rehabilitation, recognizing that maintaining families and intimate ties help advance society and stability within communities. This was the approach taken by Ray Rice and his wife Janay.

But when it comes to general crimes against women, the victim and assailant don't have the same trust-based ties as in domestic abuse cases. Take Mixon's situation. The 6-foot-1, 227-pound running back wasn't familiar with 20-year-old Amelia Molitor before they fought in a cafe near campus. She shoved and slapped him, and he broke her jaw, eye socket and cheekbone. The fight was an isolated incident between two relative strangers, without trust or concealment. For that reason, the court didn't order Mixon to attend counseling so that his interaction with Molitor would be healthier in the future; rather, it was in hopes that the running back's interaction with all of society would be better moving forward.

The fact remains that punching a woman alone does not make Mixon guilty of domestic violence. It also doesn't undermine the Lions' or Quinn's anti-domestic violence stance. Whether Mixon's behavior will be different in the future is unknown. The Lions franchise and at least three other teams privately interviewed Mixon since the combine concluded, hopefully getting a gauge on whether the 20-year-old has become a changed man since the assault.

There is no question that domestic abuse and an act of violence against a woman are both offensive, demoralizing and unacceptable. But the offenses are not the same. Neither are the victims they impact, nor the approaches we take to eradicate them.

If we're going to stop domestic violence, we must remember that it's broader than just violence against women; it impacts men and children and extends beyond just physical violence.

Adrienne Lawrence has a B.S. and M.A. in criminal justice as well as a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. She completed the M.A. specialized journalism program at USC Annenberg in 2015 focusing on multimedia sports journalism. She practiced law from 2008 to 2015 before joining ESPN in August 2015. Adrienne also was an informal domestic violence and sexual assault counselor for three years.