Since its original publication in 1982, Getting Free has changed the lives of tens of thousands of women. Written in an accessible style, packed with practical information and answers, special exercises designed to help a woman recognize abuse, and several success stories, Getting Free remains an important resource today,and this updated edition makes it an all the more relevant resource.In this expanded edition, Ginny NiCarthy features important new information from the latest studies and most recent research on the subject. New chapters include an analysis of whether batterers' treatment really works, which programs help violent men change, and which do not the results of research on the ways that many men who batter also abuse their children, and specific reactions of children to battering the cultural and legal issues relevant to immigrant women and a presentation of how religious beliefs and religious communities affect the real and perceived choices of women facing violence.

Surviving Domestic Violence follows a group of women on their journeys through and away from abusive relationships. Using a gendered lens, seven influential social dimensions are examined: power, emotion, children, home, economic resource, informal and community support. Struggling with domestic violence and poverty, we see women actively pursuing safety for themselves and their children. However, a gendered analysis of external structural contexts, as well as individual responses, reveals the constraints women face in achieving support to gain safety.

Details a new social interaction theory and teaches judges, attorneys, advocates, and academics how to apply it in a trial setting. Battering relationships often escalate to a point where the battered woman commits homicide. When such homicides occur, attention is usually focused on the final violent encounter; however, Ogle and Jacobs argue, while that act is the last homicidal encounter, it is not the only one. This important study argues that the battering relationship is properly understood as a long-term homicidal process that, if played out to the point that contrition dissipates, is very likely to result in the death of one of the parties. In that context, Ogle and Jacobs posit a social interaction perspective for understanding the situational, cultural, social, and structural forces that work toward maintaining the battering relationship and escalating it to a homicidal end. This book details this theory and explains how to apply it in a trial setting. Elements of self-defense law are problematic for battered women who kill their abusers. These include imminence, reasonableness of the victim's perception of danger, and reasonableness of the victim's choice of lethal violence and their proportionality. Social interaction theory argues that, once contrition dissipates, imminence is constant. The victim functions in an unending state of extreme tension and fear. This allows us to understand the victim's view of the violence as escalating beyond control, thereby increasing her reasonable perception of danger and lethality. After social resources, for whatever reason, fail to end the violence, it is then reasonable for the victim to conclude that she will have to act in her own defense in order to survive.

Even if you haven't been hurt by domestic violence, someone you know has and wishes they could tell you about it. Perhaps you are a therapist, teacher, academic, or social worker who wants to help those who are suffering. Or maybe you are in an abusive relationship and need to know that you are not alone. The poems, memoirs, and creative nonfiction pieces collected here tell of real incidents of abuse, as well as of those who left destructive and unsalvageable relationships. The beauty and truth of the language, as well as the honesty and courage, set this anthology apart from self-help manuals and academic treatises on domestic violence. This book offers a path forward to healing, health and fulfillment, using the power of art to give voice where voice has been stifled, forgotten, overlooked or denied.

This book brings together international research from scholars and activists on the forms of violence that older women experience into a unique, comprehensive two-volume set. This volume is concerned with understanding the consequences and impacts of violence against older women. The majority of policy and practice has been developed to reflect the dynamics and contexts of violence affecting young women, and most of the available support services had focused on the needs of those of child-bearing age. This volume sheds light on the specific needs and effectiveness of responses to violence against older women, and identifies both challenges and opportunities for developing services that meet older survivor's needs. It will be of interest to researchers in social and health care, gerontology, sociology and social policy, feminist research and criminology.

Written by leading experts in the field, this timely collection highlights current strategies and thinking in relation to prevention of sexual violence and critically considers the limitations of these frameworks. Combining psychological, criminological, sociological and legal perspectives, it explores academic, practitioner and survivor points of view. It addresses broad themes, from cultures of sexual harassment to the role of media in oversexualising women and girls, as well as specific issues including violence against children and older people. For researchers, practitioners and students alike, this is an invaluable resource that maps new approaches for practice and prevention.

Gender-Based Perspectives on Batterer Programs responds to the intense debate about the approach and effectiveness of batterer programs, especially in light of the "evidence-based practice" movement. But it does so through a collection of 24 interviews with batterer program founders and leaders who have been working in the field for 25 to 35 years. In the process, it answers many of the misconceptions and misrepresentations of batterer programs, and highlights their contributions and development. It also offers recommendations to researchers and the field in general that would help strengthen the work overall. More specifically, the book is a follow-up to the author's research-oriented book, The Future of Batterer Programs: Reassessing Evidence-Based Practice (Northeastern University Press, 2012). That book critically reviewed the research on batterer programs in light of the demand for documentation of program effectiveness and documented the effective role of batterer programs in an intervention system. It also exposed the need for "evidence-based practice" research to include the feedback, interpretations, and critique of practitioners who have their own "evidence" to contribute. In Gender-Based Perspectives on Batterer Programs, a summarizing introduction and conclusion on leadership frame the set of leader interviews. The collection of interviews represents an archive of the experience and wisdom of long-term workers in the field-many of whom are on the verge of retirement. This "database" should help researchers develop more meaningful studies, and ground research results in actualities of the work. Ideally, the interviews will also help practitioners realize their commonalities and better represent themselves to their critics and public in general.

At age nineteen, Natasha Trethewey had her world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother.

Heartbreakingly clear-eyed and tender, Memorial Drive is a daughter's act of love - and an unflinching excavation of the wounds that never heal. For as Trethewey tells her story, and reclaims her mother's, she lays bare the indelible scars of slavery and racism on the soul of a troubled nation.

This open access book draws on a broad study on violence against men, from both male and female partners in Norway, to contribute to the research on intimate partner violence. It identifies similarities in men's experiences and backgrounds, including in their perceptions of their own victimisation. Marianne Inez Lien and Jorgen Lorentzen argue that the traditional gender power model should be modified and supplemented, and propose that we consider violence in terms of psychological supremacy, rather than in terms of femininity and masculinity. Men's Experiences of Violence in Intimate Relationships will appeal to students and scholars across a range of areas including criminology, sociology and family violence, and gender studies.

This book is devoted to illustrating the significance of perpetrator-victim relationship, including its status and state, in understanding intimate partner homicide (IPH) in the context of China today after comparing with the findings in the previous studies. By analyzing the correlation between intimate relationships as a focal variable and other variables such as IPH characteristics and risk factors, a deeper understanding of IPH in China today has emerged. Finally, this book shows that many perpetrators and victims had intimate relationships with people outside their marriages as the main reason for the rapid increase in the number of instances of IPH, which seems to be in tandem with China's rapid modernization and urbanization. Presenting the sole academic research that closely investigates the characteristics of intimate partner homicide in modern China, the book is a valuable resource for not only for the Chinese government but also for Chinese and international researchers.

Domestic Violence, Family Law and School discusses the ways in which domestic violence can impact on children's lives at pre-school and school. Disputes over parental responsibility, living arrangements or child contact can create difficulties not just for the child of disputing parents, but for all children at preschool or school, as well as for staff. This book uncovers new research on an under-explored area of children's lives and social work with vulnerable children and is shaped by a comparative lens that brings both similarities and differences between England, Wales and Sweden into focus. A theoretical framework for analyses of how welfare systems tackle domestic violence is elaborated and lessons for practice that can be drawn from the findings presented are highlighted.

A deadly secret. A horrifying discovery. A daughter tells the devastating true story her mother tried to hide... Growing up in a chaotic home on Merseyside, young Joanne raised herself and her brother and sister, while her mother lapsed into a downward spiral of drinking and casual sex. But the consequences of her mother's messy lifestyle turned out to be far worse than Joanne could ever have imagined. In Silent Sisters, the daughter who was falsely accused of murdering her own baby sister tells the full story for the first time since exposing her mother's crimes.

Every year in England and Wales alone, one in twenty adults suffer domestic abuse, two thirds of them women. Every week, two men kill a woman they were intimate with. And still we ask the wrong question: Why didn't she leave? Instead, we should ask: Why did he do it? Investigative journalist Jess Hill puts perpetrators -- and the systems that enable them -- in the spotlight. Her radical reframing of domestic abuse takes us beyond the home to explore how power, culture and gender intersect to both produce and normalise abuse. She boldly confronts uncomfortable questions about how and why society creates abusers, but can't seem to protect their victims, and shows how we can end this dark cycle of fear and control. 'See What You Made Me Do' is a profound and bold confrontation of this urgent crisis and its deep roots. It will challenge everything you thought you knew about domestic abuse.

This book draws on empirical work to examine the debates surrounding domestic violence disclosure schemes (also known as Clare's Law), focussing on England and Wales with comparisons to similar jurisdictions. Clare's Law allows any member of the public the right to ask the police if their partner may pose a risk to them. This book sets out a coherent methodology for analysing these schemes which are growing in popularity. It discusses their pros and cons and the challenges with operating and regulating them. It ultimately seeks to examine whether the disclosure of information concerning the criminal history of one person to that person's intimate partner will ultimately increase the likelihood of keeping their partner safe. It speaks to academics working in the domestic violence / regulation/ criminal justice/ criminology fields as well as by policy makers in front line services and government agencies.

Romantic Terrorism offers an innovative methodology in exploring the ways in which domestic violence offenders terrorise their victims. Its focus on the insidious use of tactics of coercive control by abusers opens up much-needed discussion on the damage caused to victims by emotional and psychological abuse.

This book examines the complex issue of familicide-suicide - the murder of a partner and children followed by suicide. The purpose of the book is two-fold: to advance a feminist sociological analysis of familicide as a form of gender-based violence, and to examine how it is reported on in news. The first section contextualises interpretations of familicide against the dual ascendancy of - and contestation around - feminist and mental illness discourses in public policy and debate. Advancing a feminist sociological analysis of familicide-suicide, it shows the value of 'continuum thinking' for understanding complex and varied forms of gender-based violence. Section Two examines Australian news reporting on familicide-suicide, showing the ways cultural assumptions about domestic and family violence and mental illness shape news reporting. It analyses how discourses of gender, disability, age, and the 'family' serve to rationalise certain news frames and reflects on the thorny ethical issues inherent in reporting on familicide. Arguing for a nuanced approach to gender-based violence and how it is reported, this book will be of interest for scholars of gender and violence, as well as media and journalism.

This book examines the use and impact of Australian Indigenous sentencing courts in response to Indigenous partner violence. In operation in Australia since 1999, these courts were first established by a magistrate in South Australia who sought to improve court communication and understanding, and trust in the criminal justice system for Indigenous people. Indigenous Courts, Culture and Partner Violence is the first book to consider how the transformation of a sentencing process into one that better reflects Indigenous cultural values can improve outcomes for both victims and offenders of Indigenous partner violence. It asks which aspects of the sentencing process are most important in influencing a change in attitude and behaviour of Indigenous offenders who repeatedly engage in abusive behaviour towards their partner, and what types of justice process better meets the relationship, rehabilitative and safety needs of Indigenous partner violence offenders and their victims? Marchetti examines the adaptation of a formal sentencing process to make it more culturally meaningful when responding to Indigenous partner violence, and gauges victim and offender views about how the court process has affected their lives and relationships, and elicits their views of violence within their communities. This innovative work will be of great interest to academics, researchers, policy makers, police, lawyers, family violence service providers and students.

With its focus on the connection between health and mental health symptoms, this seminal, groundbreaking work continues to forge new directions in the field of domestic violence. Describing a condition that is the basis for the battered woman defence - cited in cases of psychically- and psychologically-abused women who have killed their abusers - it continues to be used as a defence to explain premeditated assault or murder. Completely updated, the fourth edition reflects the significant changes in the field since the book was last published, incorporating ACA Guidelines on Health Care and Domestic Violence and data from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. It examines new research regarding battered women in other countries and multicultural groups, and includes several new chapters addressing issues ranging from murder-suicide in domestic violence cases to proposed legislation and Congressional resolutions. The fourth edition provides new findings worldwide that reinforce the cycle theory of violence. It reflects new research on traumatic responses, and addresses Trauma-Informed and Specific Psychotherapy, interventions with youth in juvenile detention centres, information from government task forces regarding children exposed to violence and juvenile justice, and new findings regarding the application of psychology to the legal system. Entirely new to the fourth edition is a section about reforming family court and divorce presumptions. This is crucial reading for nearly all health and mental health workers who may be called upon to ask clients about experiences of domestic violence and must respond knowledgably and effectively. New to the fourth edition: Fully revised and updated. Incorporates ACA Guidelines on Health Care and Domestic Violence. Includes data from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. Addresses findings regarding battered women in other countries/multicultural groups. New chapter on murder/suicide in domestic violence cases. New chapter on trauma treatment for victims of IPV. New chapter on interventions in juvenile detention centres according to recent reforms. New chapter on human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. New chapter on elder abuse. New chapter on false confessions of battered women. New chapter on Immigration and Violence Against Women Act. New chapter about proposed legislation and Congressional resolutions. Key Features: Addresses myths and science of domestic violence. Examines the interaction of IPV and other family violence. Presents best-practice intervention strategies. Discusses application of psychology to the legal system. Covers preventative measures.

The gap between what the law and legal processes deliver for victims of domestic abuse and what they actually need has, in some instances, arguably widened. This book provides the reader with a thorough understanding of the remedies available to victims in the civil, family and criminal law. It contends that expectations of the legal remedies have increased as the number and scope of remedies has proliferated. It further examines how legal responses to domestic abuse have evolved over the past decade and explores how the victim's rights narrative and associated litigation, which has become prevalent in legal discourse and criminal justice reforms, has shifted expectations and impacted domestic abuse policy and law. The book presents a valuable addition to the literature in drawing on a discourse familiar to those with an interest in human rights, demonstrating its impact on a substantive area of law of great significance to both family and criminal lawyers and anyone with an interest in domestic abuse and legal responses.

* Presents a feminist, restorative, and responsive approach to family violence * Offers a history of Family Group Decision Making, distinguishing it from Family Group Conferencing and related practices * Uses a unique approach that extends restorative justice theory into non-criminal arenas

In Legal Spectatorship Kelli Moore traces the political origins of the concept of domestic violence through visual culture in the United States. Tracing its appearance in Article IV of the Constitution, slave narratives, police notation, cybernetic theories of affect, criminal trials, and the "look" of the battered woman, Moore contends that domestic violence refers to more than violence between intimate partners-it denotes the mechanisms of racial hierarchy and oppression that undergird republican government in the United States. Moore connects the use of photographic evidence of domestic violence in courtrooms, which often stands in for women's testimony, to slaves' silent experience and witnessing of domestic abuse. Drawing on Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, abolitionist print culture, courtroom witness testimony, and the work of Hortense Spillers, Moore shows how the logic of slavery and antiblack racism also dictates the silencing techniques of the contemporary domestic violence courtroom. By positioning testimony on contemporary domestic violence prosecution within the archive of slavery, Moore demonstrates that domestic violence and its image are haunted by black bodies, black flesh, and black freedom. Duke University Press Scholars of Color First Book Award recipient

Exploring the dynamics between victim and offender is paramount to answering important issues of character and vital for forensic research. This involves examining the role of the victim during and after victimization; this process is especially important for spousal violence because of the interactive process between the victim and the offender. Forensic Psychology of Spousal Violence covers the phenomenon of spousal violence and its different forms, discussing the consequences of abuse, providing research tips to be used in the field, including relevant case studies and much more. The innovative approach of this text fills a void in the current understanding of spousal violence.

Presents a content analysis of state-level statutes on immigrant and refugee intimate partner violence Compares the extent to which various intimate partner violence statutes applied to immigrant and refugee communities employ surveillance, control opportunities for protection, acknowledge diversity and foster inclusion, embody empathy, and cultivate empowerment An original and timely resource for researchers, students, scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders focusing on the important nexus of immigration and criminal justice law

'War is a man's game,' or so goes the saying. Whether this is true or not, patriarchal capitalism is certainly one of the driving forces behind war in the modern era. So can we end war with feminism? This book argues that this is possible, and is in fact already happening. Each chapter provides a solution to war using innovative examples of how feminist and queer theory and practice inform pacifist treaties, movements and methods, from the international to the domestic spheres. The contributors propose a range of solutions that include arms abolition, centring Indigenous knowledge, economic restructuring, and transforming how we 'count' civilian deaths. Ending war requires challenging complex structures, but the solutions found in this edition have risen to this challenge. By thinking beyond the violence of the capitalist patriarchy, this book makes the powerful case that the possibility of life without war is real.

How can we prevent intimate partner violence (IPV)? And how do we define and measure "success" in preventing it? This book brings together researchers and practitioners from a wide range of fields to examine innovative strategies and programs for preventing IPV. The authors discuss evaluations of current prevention efforts, paying particular attention to underserved groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and refugees.