Domestic violence, interpersonal violence, intimate partner violence, or gender-based violence continues to be a social problem that is rarely understood or discussed in many parts of society, worldwide. The same holds true in the Anglophone Caribbean. Most Caribbean societies are patriarchal in nature, as most men govern and create the political and economic landscape where citizens live. This edited volume brings together reputable scholars of rigorous academic research from various disciplines (e.g., political science, law, linguistics, criminology, nursing, social work and psychology) to clearly explain the conceptual definition of domestic violence within the Latin American and Caribbean region's socio-political context. It will highlight who are the perpetrators as well as the victims of domestic violence and the consequences of allowing domestic violence to perpetuate in the region. This book is unique in the market today, as it is the only book grounded in the Caribbean providing a comprehensive overview of domestic violence with regards to the significance, victims, perpetrators, and the consequences.

Long disregarded and downplayed, female domestic violence is today rapidly gaining awareness as research proves not only that it exists, but that-according to multiple incidence studies-the frequency of women actually initiating abusive behaviour is about equal to men. While certain core elements of intimate partner violence are shared among all domestic violence offenders, female offenders face unique triggers, personal backgrounds and relationship dynamics. The STOP Program: For Women Who Abuse is the most innovative and comprehensive manual to address domestic violence treatment specifically to female offenders, with a programme targeted to engage women in their own healing process. This programme will radically change the landscape for treatment of women who abuse. This comprehensive instruction manual for group treatment offers therapists, social workers and other counsellors sound, psychologically-based interventions to reach the very women who often seem unapproachable in a treatment setting. Developed and field-tested for over twenty-five years among military and civilian populations, the programme provides a skill-building approach to address the core elements of all intimate partner violence as well as the aspects that are unique to female offenders. Participants are held responsible for their actions-and pushed to examine the complex roles of trauma, emotional dysregulation, self-esteem deficits and histories of personal victimisation in their relationship struggles. Presented in a 26-week or 52-week psychoeducational format, the group leader's manual is packed with teaching methods, skills-training exercises, articles, video clips and other resources, as well as guidelines for addressing the substance abuse issues which frequently exacerbate female domestic violence. Accompanying handouts and homework for participants (sold separately) provide structure for recovery both within the sessions and at home.

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 thoroughly revised second edition is an examination of domestic violence from social, legal, and historical perspectives. Domestic Violence: A Reference Handbook provides straightforward and objective coverage that considers all aspects of the issue through a careful combination of facts, statistics, case studies, and victims' stories. This volume in ABC-CLIO's Contemporary World Issues series examines the causes and historical roots of domestic violence, providing the facts and analyses to foster a better understanding. The work analyzes the complex dynamics of domestic violence from three perspectives-legal, social, and psychological. This reference is an important source of information for those touched by domestic violence and for those seeking to understand it. A chronology that stretches from 753 BCE, when Romulus, the founder of Rome, formalized the first "law of marriage" to January 2006, when President George W. Bush signed the third reauthorization of the 1994 Violence against Women Act Illustrations include the power and control wheel (a model in the form of a wheel that explains the dynamics of domestic violence), the ecological theory of battering, and the characteristics of the victim as illustrated by the World Health Organization

A compelling investigation of the Jewish communitys reaction or nonreaction to domestic violence. In a congregation of devoted worshippers gathered for Shabbat services at the local synagogue, it may be difficult to accept how many wives go home with their husbands to ongoing physical and emotional abuse. In Sins of Omission, author Carol Goodman Kaufman offers a compelling investigation of the Jewish communitys reaction or nonreaction to domestic violence. Concerned with the sins of the community more than the sins of the abuser, Goodman Kaufman finds that the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform rabbis and community leaders are not doing enough and are not informed enough to help the abused women in their congregations get the support, protection, and guidance they need. Through her many insightful interviews with survivors of abuse, rabbis, and lay community leaders, the author takes a hard look at the Jewish community, its rules, regulations, and followers, and discovers the ways in which it helps and hinders victims of abuse.

Family aggression - whether in form of physical violence or verbal abuse - has touched most of us in our lifetime. Most of us have witnessed it, experienced it, or used it at one point or another. In order for us to eliminate aggressive and abusive behaviors from relationships, we must be willing to confront our own experiences with these behaviors. Family Violence in the United States examines all types of family aggression. The book is designed to provoke readers into questioning assumptions, evaluating information, formulating hypotheses, and designing solutions to problems of family violence in the United States. Using an ecological framework, authors Denise A. Hines and Kathleen Malley-Morrison provide a thought-provoking and informative discussion not only of the most well-recognized forms of maltreatment in families, but also of less understood and more controversial issues such as husband abuse, parent abuse, and gay//lesbian abuse.Key Features: - Includes full chapters on husband abuse and abuse in gay//lesbian relationships - topics scarcely covered in other texts - Discusses "hidden forms" of family violence including wife rape, sibling abuse, parent abuse, and abuse of people with disabilities - Uses real case studies to illustrate the concepts discussed and to provoke readers to think critically about issues in family violence - Provides thought-provoking questions throughout the text to prompt readers to evaluate their own and others' notions of abuse and maltreatment - Incorporates "Special Issues" sections to highlight new, and sometimes controversial, aspects of family violence - Includes summary sections at the end of each chapter to serve as a useful study aid for students - Concludes with a discussion of how we, as a society, are currently responding to the problem of family violence in the United States. Rich in scholarly references and case materials, Family Violence in the United States is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on family violence in the fields of Family Studies, Sociology, Social Work, Women's Studies, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Counselling, and Nursing.

'Will help so many learn to recognize what an abusive relationship is' - Mel B 'I read it all in one sitting, it is brilliant! This book is so relatable and Maddy's funny and engaging approach starts serious conversations' - Teresa Parker, Women's Aid Are you forever finding yourself in the stranglehold of controlling companions? Well, fear not, because once you've finished reading this book, you'll be able to wave ta-ta to unhappy and unhealthy relationships for good. Consider me the Psycho Sprucer, Bad Boy Buster, the Hot Mess Assessor - ready to leave your love life sparkling. How to Leave Your Psychopath is a candid account of the complex, subtle nature of coercive control and abusive relationships from comedian Maddy Anholt, who - until her eyes were opened - had spent her entire dating life trapped in them. Relatable and accessible, the book covers all the common techniques these toxic twerps use to exert control, including gaslighting, breadcrumbing and negging. This book is the ultimate handbook to help you see and respond to red flags, recognize controlling traits, and learn to give any prospective date a score on Maddy's unique 'Psychometer', from super-empath to psychopath. Vitally, by interweaving psychological insight and autobiographical anecdotes, Maddy shows you the road to self-discovery, leading you on the path to safer dating and a healthier, more joyful life. Funny, judgement-free and full of brilliant first-hand advice, this empowering guide will help anyone ditch their controlling partner to find freedom and happiness.

This comprehensive book is a critical introduction to the theoretical and practical issues involved in working with children and families. It sheds light on different perspectives, forms of practice, and dimensions of policy, with a focus on the practical issues of concern to professionals working with children in a range of settings.

This book offers a social movement perspective on family violence, framing the discovery of abuse toward women and men as a natural development flowing out of social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It combines clinical and statistical methods to yield a sophisticated understanding of the dynamics underlying spousal violence. It examines both men's violence and the violence of their female partners, both psychological as well as physical. The problem of women's violence is one that has remained largely ignored compared to the mountain of research on men's violence toward women. The authors present the first in-depth examination of how, when, and why women instigate violence and why violent couples require a systems-level intervention program rather than simply trying to counter male violence. There is a strong consideration of factors that can work to reduce or eliminate the problem.

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is the most expansive federal legislation addressing intimate violence in the United States to date. Meyer-Emerick uses three theories to examine the legislation: Foucault's theories on how people develop their ideas about their sexuality; Habermas's theories on the legitimacy of the state; and MacKinnon's theories of a gender hierarchy preserved through sexual violence. Through consideration of interviews with policymakers, professionals, and focus groups with citizens, her analysis suggests that state intervention is limited. Additional avenues for combating violence against women is therefore necessary.

These theories were also used to develop questions that were asked of policymakers and local professionals in interviews and with focus groups of survivors, perpetrators, and citizens. The interviews revealed perceptual differences between the thinking of the policymakers and the local professionals. These dissimilarities highlight the practitioners' lack of knowledge about the intent of VAWA, which may impede service delivery to clients. The focus group responses indicated that not only do women have a higher distrust than men but that survivors and perpetrators have opinions that diverge from both local citizens and other participants. This demonstrates a need for change in the system that is supposed to be protecting women from violence. Meyer-Emerick concludes with recommendations for further interventions. Policymakers and local providers of social services will find the work of particular value as will scholars and researchers dealing with domestic violence.

This is an exciting and innovative book which provides a thorough introduction to contemporary social theory by examining the way in which the widespread existence of violence against women is explored. A wide range of theories from liberalism to evolutionary psychology are considered culminating in the development of a distinctive feminist realist position. The theories discussed are tested against a large-scale survey, the findings of which challenge many conventional wisdoms as to the patterning of violence in contemporary society.

First published in 1998, this study investigates the effectiveness of services for helping women who are survivors of domestic violence. Looking at a sample from Western and Central Oregon, it examines the utilization and perceived effectiveness of resources for survivors and, in doing so, it systematically assesses the efficacy of community and professional services. This book will be of particular interest to social work students and practitioners, but will also be helpful to those studying healthcare and law.

This book considers whether coercive control (particularly non-physical forms of family violence) should be prohibited by the criminal law. Based on the premise that traditional understandings of family violence are severely limited, it considers whether the core of family violence is power-based controlling or coercive behavior: attempts by men to psychologically dominate their partners. Such behavior can cause significant psychological, physical and economic harms to victims and is increasingly recognized as a form of human rights abuse. The book considers the new offences that have been introduced in England and Wales (controlling or coercive behavior), Ireland (controlling behavior) and Scotland (domestic abuse). It invites consideration of three key questions: Do conventional criminal laws adequately regulate non-physical abuse? Is the criminal law an appropriate mechanism for responding to the coercive control of family members? And if a new and distinctive offence is warranted, what is the optimal form of that offence? This ground-breaking work is essential reading for researchers and practitioners interested in coercive control and the proper role of the criminal law as a mechanism for regulating family violence.

The practice of karo kari allows family, especially fathers, brothers and sons, to take the lives of their daughters, sisters and mothers if they are accused of adultery. This volume examines the central position of karo kari in the social, political and juridical structures in Upper Sindh, Pakistan. Drawing connections between local contests over marriage and resources, Nafisa Shah unearths deep historical processes and power relations. In particular, she explores how the state justice system and informal mediations inform each other in state responses to karo kari, and how modern law is implicated in this seemingly ancient cultural practice.

Ordinary citizens face a frustrating and increasingly complex maze of human service agencies when they seek help for everyday problems, even though one stop information and referral centers have been established to facilitate information seeking in many communities. This book explores the relationship between the information needs of battered women and the information response provided through social networks in six communities of varying size.

The book is based on an award-winning study, in which 543 women described their knowledge of the problem of woman abuse and what kinds of information resources would be helpful to an abused woman. In the second phase of the study, 179 interviews were conducted with service providers identified by these women as likely sources of help. A comparison of the interviews demonstrates that the response of information delivery systems does not adequately meet the needs and expectations of those women who would seek such services. The final chapters of the volume focus on the implications of this study for the design of social service systems.

Restorative Justice for Domestic Violence Victims uses a rich and detailed set of interviews and complementary survey data to make a strong case for introducing restorative justice principles into the existing menu of services for victims of domestic violence. Guided primarily by concerns of victim safety, domestic violence theorists and practitioners have been wary of introducing restorative justice principled programs in the domestic violence arena. While remaining cognizant of safety concerns, Marilyn Fernandez weaves together the theories, concepts, and research in the restorative justice and domestic violence traditions and uses the voices of domestic violence victims to make a case for restorative justice programs. In the process, Fernandez helps readers, academicians, students, and practitioners, understand the complex nature of domestic violence and the lives of its victims.

This is the first book to critically examine Hollywood films that focus on male partner violence against women. These films include Gaslight, Sleeping with the Enemy, What's Love Got to Do with It, Dolores Claiborne, Enough, and Safe Haven. Shaped by the contexts of postfeminism, domestic abuse post-awareness, and familiar genre conventions, these films engage in ideological "gaslighting" that reaffirms our preconceived ideas about men as abusers, women as victims, and the racial and class politics of domestic violence. While the films purport to condemn abuse and empower abused women, this study proposes that they tacitly reinforce the very attitudes that we believe we no longer tolerate. Shoos argues that films like these limit not only popular understanding but also social and institutional interventions.

'Will help so many learn to recognize what an abusive relationship is' - Mel B 'I read it all in one sitting, it is brilliant! This book is so relatable and Maddy's funny and engaging approach starts serious conversations' - Teresa Parker, Women's Aid Are you forever finding yourself in the stranglehold of controlling companions? Well, fear not, because once you've finished reading this book, you'll be able to wave ta-ta to unhappy and unhealthy relationships for good. Consider me the Psycho Sprucer, Bad Boy Buster, the Hot Mess Assessor - ready to leave your love life sparkling. How to Leave Your Psychopath is a candid account of the complex, subtle nature of coercive control and abusive relationships from comedian Maddy Anholt, who - until her eyes were opened - had spent her entire dating life trapped in them. Relatable and accessible, the book covers all the common techniques these toxic twerps use to exert control, including gaslighting, breadcrumbing and negging. This book is the ultimate handbook to help you see and respond to red flags, recognize controlling traits, and learn to give any prospective date a score on Maddy's unique 'Psychometer', from super-empath to psychopath. Vitally, by interweaving psychological insight and autobiographical anecdotes, Maddy shows you the road to self-discovery, leading you on the path to safer dating and a healthier, more joyful life. Funny, judgement-free and full of brilliant first-hand advice, this empowering guide will help anyone ditch their controlling partner to find freedom and happiness.

Men who act abusively have their own story to tell, a journey that often begins in childhood, ripens in their teenage years, and takes them down paths they were hoping to never travel. Men Who Batter recounts the journey from the point of view of the men themselves. The men's accounts of their lives are told within a broader framework of the agency where they have attended groups, and the regional coordinated community response to domestic violence, which includes the criminal justice workers (e.g., probation, parole, judges), and those who staff shelters and work in advocacy. Based on interview data with this wide array of professionals, we are able to examine how one community, in one western state, responds to men who batter. Interwoven with this rich and colorful portrayal of the journey of abusive men, we bring twenty years of fieldwork with survivors and those who walk alongside them as they seek safety, healing and wholeness for themselves and their children. Women who have been victimized by the men they love often hold out hope that, if only their abusers could be held accountable and receive intervention, the violence will stop and their own lives will improve dramatically as a result. While the main purpose of Men Who Batter is to highlight the stories of men, told from their personal point of view, it is countered by reality checks from their own case files and those professionals who have worked with them. And finally, interspersed within its pages is another theme: finding religious faith or spiritual activity in unlikely places.

"Lynne Baker shows her compassion and determination to wake the religious and secular communities to action and care. " -- Len Matthews, Salvation Army

This book takes a very real look into the lives of Christian women who cope with domestic abuse on a daily basis. It explores their experiences of physical, verbal, emotional, sexual, financial, and spiritual abuse at the hands of their perpetrator husbands who claim themselves to be good Christians. Through extensive interviews combined with academic research, the reader comes face to face with the complexity of issues surrounding such domestic abuse and how counselling can be effective through the encouragement of a variety of religious and non-religious coping strategies. Of interest to victims of domestic abuse, as well as to the members of the clergy, psychologists, and counsellors, this book shows there is a place in the Christian church for women to separate and to be divorced without losing their faith.

The practice of karo kari allows family, especially fathers, brothers and sons, to take the lives of their daughters, sisters and mothers if they are accused of adultery. This volume examines the central position of karo kari in the social, political and juridical structures in Upper Sindh, Pakistan. Drawing connections between local contests over marriage and resources, Nafisa Shah unearths deep historical processes and power relations. In particular, she explores how the state justice system and informal mediations inform each other in state responses to karo kari, and how modern law is implicated in this seemingly ancient cultural practice.

This book explores the morality of love and sex, and how distortions of these sometimes develop into abuse. Hayes argues that there are strong similarities between different kinds of abusive relationships, and that these similarities arise out of the common narratives surrounding romantic love and the logic of intimate relationships.