As domestic violence continues to be a focus of social and psychological concern, two basic contradictory viewpoints endure: one rooted in male power dynamics, the other maintaining that both genders use and are victimized by violence. Although both sides have their merits, neither has adequately answered the crucial question: What causes conflict to escalate into violence?

"Partner Violence: A New Paradigm for Understanding Conflict Escalation"adds a third, escalation-focused paradigm to the debate, addressing the limitations of the two dominant perspectives in a comprehensive scholarly approach. This concise yet comprehensive volume examines key gender- and non-gender-related violence issues and sets out a compelling behavioral argument that using violence to control others is a rational choice. Its theoretical and empirical foundations support an in-depth study of escalating aggression in violent relationships, both throughout periods of chronic conflict and in single violent episodes. This analysis promotes a broader and deeper understanding of partner violence, suitable to developing more finely targeted, effective, and lasting interventions.

Among the key topics featured are: Gender differences in aggressive tendencies. Dominance, control, and violence. Partner violence as planned behavior. The process leading to partner violence. Partner conflict dynamics throughout relationship periods and within conflicts. Gender differences in escalatory intentions.

"Partner Violence" is an important volume for researchers, graduate students, and clinicians/professionals across various disciplines, including personality and social psychology, criminology, public health, clinical psychology, sociology, and social work. "

This timely and compelling ethnography examines the impact of welfare reform on women seeking to escape domestic violence. DC na-Ain Davis profiles twenty-two women, thirteen of whom are Black, living in a battered women's shelter in a small city in upstate New York. She explores the contradictions between welfare reform's supposed success in moving women off of public assistance and toward economic self-sufficiency and the consequences welfare reform policy has presented for Black women fleeing domestic violence. Focusing on the intersection of poverty, violence, and race, she demonstrates the differential treatment that Black and White women face in their entanglements with the welfare bureaucracy by linking those entanglements to the larger political economy of a small city, neoliberal social policies, and racialized ideas about Black women as workers and mothers.

Examines the consequences of welfare reform for black women fleeing domestic violence.

Interpersonal violence has been the focus of research within the social sciences for some considerable time. Yet inquiries about the causes of interpersonal violence and the effects on the victims have dominated the field of research and clinical practice. Central to the contributions in this volume is the idea that interpersonal violence is a social action embedded in responses from various actors. These include actions, words and behaviour from friends and family, ordinary citizens, social workers and criminal justice professionals. These responses, as the contributors to this volume all show, make a difference in terms of how violence is understood, resisted and come to terms with in its immediate aftermath and over the longer term. Bringing together an international network of scholars and practitioners from a range of disciplines and fields of practice, this book maps and expands research on interpersonal violence. In doing so, it opens an important new terrain on which social responses to violence can be fully interrogated in terms of their intentions, meanings and outcomes.

Framing the Victim is a must-read for anyone concerned about the politics and processes that shape how we understand and respond to social problems.It illustrates how victims of domestic violence are "framed" by the dominant media perspectives focused on them and falsely blamed for a crime committed by someone else. Berns insightfully critiques the stories that emerge when social problems are shaped by guidelines that promote entertainment, victim empowerment, drama, inspiration, and politics. She also offers recommendations on how to focus less on the victim and more on the abuser as well as the cultural and social context within which the violence is learned and tolerated.

'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.

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.

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.

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.

Pregnant Women: Violent Men is written by an experienced midwifery educator and health professional, and by a social scientist and Open University Lecturer who has considerable experience in supporting women who survive violence. Case studies and scenarios illustrate how to apply theory to clinical midwifery practice, taking into account contemporary society, exploring the causes of violence and focusing on violence in pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnant Women: Violent Men is an essential purchase for every midwife and health care professional involved in offering childbearing women care and support. * Offers sound advice and ideas on how the midwife can support, influence and stand alongside women as they experience both childbirth and the crime of domestic violence; and discusses who else can help, including the law and the Women's Aid network * Explores the shape of society and examines the roots of violence * Sensitively considers the role of the midwife when faced with domestic violence among childbearing women

This is probably one of the most important book on domestic violence to be published in Britain in the last several years. What Works in Reducing Domestic Violence? presents a wealth of information on domestic violence and the strategies which have proved effective for dealing with it. The book is outstanding for in the quality and number of its contributors, all of whom are well-known and respected in the field. The book is written to be accessible to practitioners, academics and any one engaged in multi-agency work in this area.Focusing on how to improve agency responses to women?s needs, the chapters draw on a wide range of evaluations carried out internationally and on feedback from women themselves. Subjects covered include:? housing needs; ?health services; the criminal justice response; ?children?s needs; multi-agency working; perpetrators;? civil remedies; ?outreach and advocacy. The book also examines what is known about the risks of domestic violence and its costs, and makes the case for targeted interventions which will ultimately save both lives and money. The bibliography offers a most helpful listing of recent work in this field. This book has its origins in work commissioned in 1999 by the Home Office of England and Wales under its Crime Reduction Programme Violence against Women Initiative. Summaries of the work in each area were published as a Crime Reduction Programme Briefing Note which proved to be one of the most popular collections that the Home Office ever issued. The reports, now available in this book, represent the views of the authors, and should not be taken to be Home Office or Government policy. However, they amount to a comprehensive guide- which any professional in this field will want to have always to hand. Contents Women survivors? views on domestic violence services Audrey Mullender and Gill Hague Meeting the needs of children who live with domestic violence Audrey Mullender Dealing with perpetrators Audrey Mullender and Sheila Burton What role can the Health services play? Leslie L Davidson, Valerie King, Jo Garcia, Sally Marchant Effective policing of domestic violence Jalna Hanmer and Sue Griffiths Accommodation provision for households experiencing domestic violence Debra Levison & Nicola HarwinDomestic violence and harassment: An assessment of the civil remedies Susan Edwards New directions in prosecuting domestic violence Susan Edwards Supporting women and children in their communities: Outreach and advocacy approaches to domestic violence Liz Kelly and Cathy Humphreys Multi-agency initiatives as a response to domestic violence Gill Hague Assessing and managing the risk of domestic violence Sylvia Walby and Andrew Myhill Monitoring costs and evaluating needs Debbie Crisp and Betsy Stanko Julie Taylor-Browne was a Principal Research Officer the Home Office, responsible for the Crime Reduction Programme?s Violence against Women Initiative.

The Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention) was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 7 April 2011. The Convention entered into force on 1 August 2014 and has currently been ratified by 22 states. This Convention constitutes a crucial development as regards the movement to combat gender-based violence, as it sets new legally binding standards in this area. This book provides a detailed analysis of the Convention and its potential to make an impact in relation to the specific issue of domestic violence. The book places the Istanbul Convention in context with regard to developments relating to domestic violence as a human rights issue. The background to the adoption of the Convention is examined, and the text of this instrument is analysed in detail. Comparative analysis is engaged in with reference to the duties that have been placed on states by other bodies such as the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the European Court of Human Rights. Comparisons are also drawn with the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women and with the relevant provisions of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. An in-depth examination of the advantages of the adoption of the Istanbul Convention by the Council of Europe is provided along with a detailed analysis of the challenges faced by the Convention. The book concludes with a number of brief reflections in relation to the question of whether the adoption of a UN convention on violence against women may be a possible development, and the potential such an instrument holds, in the context of domestic violence.

This set of 7 volumes, originally published between 1984 and 1998, provides illuminating and practical information on Domestic Abuse. Aimed at both students and practitioners across a range of disciplines, the volumes explore topics including, provision of services for domestic abuse victims, the law, homelessness, advice for those coming into contact with violence and victims of abuse, public policy and the experience of domestic abuse victims themselves.

Caught between violent partners and the bureaucratic complications of the US Immigration system, many immigrant women are particularly vulnerable to abuse. For two years, Roberta Villalon volunteered at a nonprofit group that offers free legal services to mostly undocumented immigrants who had been victims of abuse. Her innovative study of Latina survivors of domestic violence explores the complexities at the intersection of immigration, citizenship, and violence, and shows how inequality is perpetuated even through the well-intentioned delivery of vital services. Through archival research, participant observation, and personal interviews, Violence Against Latina Immigrants provides insight into the many obstacles faced by battered immigrant women of color, bringing their stories and voices to the fore. Ultimately, Villalon proposes an active policy advocacy agenda and suggests possible changes to gender violence-based immigration laws, revealing the complexities of the lives of Latina immigrants as they confront issues of citizenship, gender violence, and social inequalities.

This book offers a new methodological and theoretical approach to the highly sensitive and complicated issue of violence against women in contemporary Iran. Challenging the widespread notion that secularisation and modernisation are the keys to emancipating women, the author instead posits that domestic violence is deeply rooted in society and situated in the fundament of current discourses.

Investigating how orthodox jurisprudence as mainstream discourse, together with social, legal and public norms, help to perpetuate the production and reproduction of physical, psychological, sexual and economical violence against women, the author presents and reflects upon narratives, experiences and the social realities accounting for domestic violence against women. Drawing on qualitative empirical research, she theorises that the notion of secularization and modernisation helping to overcome such violence is to some extent represented by Islamic feminism, secular feminism, and religious intellectualism, all of which are methodologically examined in the analysis.

Challenging conventional wisdom regarding women 's place in Iran and in wider Islamic society, this book offers a new insight into violence against Muslim women and as such will be an important addition to the existing literature in the areas of gender studies, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, and Iranian studies.

Confucian countries have unrecognized potential to promote gender policies in ways which have been unappreciated by western scholarship. This book challenges western notions of what constitutes liberation by using three critical nexus points (UN gender initiatives, domestic violence law, and women's centers) that demonstrate how western intrusions established a hierarchy, which interfered with organic movements to promote women's rights. Through the use of qualitative interviews and archival research, Freiner addresses and defines the Confucian cultural qualities specific to Japan and analyzes state interactions with women with regard to domestic violence. Moreover, "The Social and Gender Politics of Confusian States "argues that current literature on feminism in the state relies upon a western lens, which may neglect the opportunities and possibilities for an empowerment framework that relies upon Confucian norms.

This volume presents important findings on conflict and abuse in families of the aged. A valuable resource for those in sociology, psychology, gerontology, and social work as well as psychotherapists who work with the aged, the staff of elder abuse programs, adult protective service workers, and legislators. the authors provide a fresh, historically balanced, empirical and theoretical framework for the view that elder abuse and neglect is an extreme manifestation of family conflict.

"Lisa P. Gwyther, Journal of Gernontology"

This volume presents important findings on conflict and abuse in families of the aged. A valuable resource for those in sociology, psychology, gerontology, and social work as well as psychotherapists who work with the aged, the staff of elder abuse programs, adult protective service workers, and legislators.

The perpetration of intimate partner violence by women has long been a controversial topic. More recently, researchers, treatment providers and other professionals have begun to critically examine theoretical, research and practice perspectives to gather a better understanding of this controversial issue. The current text will provide the reader with a more thorough discussion on our current understanding of the context and motivation of women's use of violence against intimate partners. This text will discuss the controversies related to the arrest and treatment of women arrested for domestic violence from a variety of theoretical perspectives while also providing updates on the current research focusing on typologies of female offenders. The text also provides a critical review of current treatment strategies for women arrested for domestic violence.

The contributors are the foremost leaders in the field of research and practice on intimate partner violence offending and have written chapters that provide a key review of the work that is currently emerging in the field. As a result, this text is the most comprehensive guide to date that discusses female perpetration of intimate partner violence. Recommendations for specific treatment with this population and implications for practice and policy are provided throughout.

This book was published as a special double issue of the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma.

About half of the women in the United States and Canada have been physically or sexually assaulted after the age of 16. The figures in other countries are similar. Written by an outsider (an anthropologist) and an insider (a spousal abuse survivor), this book offers a humanistic, rather than statistical, overview of the problem of spousal abuse. It is based on an extensive set of interviews with abused women and individuals who seek to help them (shelter workers, police officers, marriage counselors). More particularly, it follows four women as they move through the steps they must follow to extricate themselves from an abusive relationship and then get on with their lives. The reader witnesses their success and failures as they face a task that is both necessary and daunting, and the effects that spousal abuse (and at attempts stopping the abuse) have on an ever-widening circle of people. This book illustrates how society in general and individuals and organizations in particular help and hinder the process of extrication - often at the same time. By analyzing the solutions, and their implications, that have been offered to and by the abused women, the authors arrive at a set of alternative solutions that could significantly reduce the incidence of spouse abuse in the future.

Decade after decade, violence against women has gained more attention from scholars, policy makers, and the general public. Social scientists in particular have contributed significant empirical and theoretical understandings to this issue. Strikingly, scant attention has focused on the victimization of women who want to leave their hostile partners. This groundbreaking work challenges the perception that rural communities are safe havens from the brutality of urban living. Identifying hidden crimes of economic blackmail and psychological mistreatment, and the complex relationship between patriarchy and abuse, Walter S. DeKeseredy and Martin D. Schwartz propose concrete and effective solutions, giving voice to women who have often suffered in silence. ""Dangerous Exits"" focuses on women living in rural America who are at great risk of sexual assault, beatings, and death during and immediately after separation or divorce.

The most practical, informative resource guide available for victims of domestic violence and for all who want to help, this book includes a detailed profile of the battering personality to help women recognize potential danger before it happens, shocking real-life cases, hundreds of updated hotline numbers and more.

" In 1995 Kentucky governor Brereton Jones granted parole to ten women who had been convicted of killing, conspiring to kill, or assaulting the men who had abused them for years. The media began referring to them as the ""Sisters in Pain,"" a name they embraced. These are their stories. L. Elisabeth Beattie and Mary Angela Shaughnessy's interviews of seven of the Sisters in Pain detail the physical, sexual, or psychological abuse they suffered at the hands of their husbands or boyfriends, battery beyond comprehension. Anyone who has ever asked, ""Why don't they just leave?"" will come to understand the interconnected strands of abuse that make just living through another day a personal triumph. Beattie and Shaughnessy address the pervasive nature of domestic violence in America and explore the legal ramifications of fighting back. Their interviews with the Sisters in Pain reveal the ways in which these women have picked up the pieces of their shattered lives and learned to face the future.

Queer survivors piece together the clues to discover their own lives Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving goes beyond the recovery narrative to create a new queer literature of investigation, exploration, and transformation. Twenty-six stories illuminate the reality of growing up in fear, struggling to rebuild lives damaged by sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse. The book explores how abuse turns queer survivors-male, female, and transgendered-into healers, heartbreakers, and homicidal maniacs, presenting brilliant stories that sear and soar. Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving addresses all forms of abuse head-on, representing a cross-section of queer survivors in terms of race, class, ethnicity, education, origin, sexuality, and gender. Contributors use their own life experiences to create a book that takes back control from well-meaning "outsiders," as they recount the daily struggle to overcome the damage done to their minds, bodies, and spirits in a world that denies their gender, sexual, and social identities. From the editor: "Dangerous Families consists entirely of writing by survivors of childhood abuse. That's right-no therapists analyzing our plight, no talk-show hosts exploiting us-just survivors, exploring our complicated, frightening, and fulfilling lives. These stories dispense with the usual technique of carefully massaging the reader's fragile worldview before plunging this unsuspecting innocent into a world of horror. They go right to the horror, the beauty, and the joy, often throwing the reader off-guard, revealing layers of meaning before the reader can step back." Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving is an anthology of 26 true stories of growing up queer in families that magnify the horrors of the outside world instead of offering protection. The book is an essential read for therapists, caseworkers, cultural studies specialists, and anyone struggling to survive childhood

This Handbook provides a clear introduction to the theoretical debates surrounding the topic of domestic violence, and also offers practical advice on possible interventions. Focusing on improving the care of clients it covers: the causes and consequences of domestic violence personal and professional issues for the practitioner domestic violence and the law the process of effective intervention interventions in specific health care settings interventions where children are involved multi-agency approaches education and training. Taking an evidence-based approach to practical problems, Domestic Violence is an invaluable resource for nurses, doctors and other health practitioners who deal with the consequences of domestic violence in their daily work.