"Has he ever hit you?" I hate the question. What is a "hit"? Many people think that domestic abuse is a slap across the face, or a kick, or a shove. And if it's not bad enough to go to the ER, if there are no bruises, cuts or broken bones, then maybe it wasn't that bad. "Just get over it." The answer to that question for me is, "Yes. He hit me once, early in our marriage, while I was driving the car." That hit had a profound effect on me. It made me feel stupid and deserving of punishment. Surely I said something "wrong." It also squelched my ability to communicate my feelings freely with my husband. What would happen if I said something "wrong" again? No, I am not dead. I haven't had stitches. I haven't had to visit the emergency room. But I am hurt....deeply hurt....over a very broken and abusive relationship with my husband. This is the story of how I learned to SURVIVE

Evangelist Jenny Small's land of her nativity is Barbados. She has a powerful life-changing testimony that reveals the delivering power of God through Jesus Christ and how God protected her in the darkest years of her life - how God snatched her from the clutches of death - from the darkest pit - from prison to praise. In her book "Yesterday I Died," she exposes and brings to light the hidden spirit of domestic violence, and the years she and her daughters were exposed to the abuse by the hands of her former husband. In addition, she discloses how God lovingly brought transformation in her heart, through Jesus Christ and blessed her to love her former husband with the love of God. Her deepest heart's prayer is that her past experiences would help you step out from death to life - from darkness to light, through Jesus Christ. She needs you to realize that you are a world changer and that you must rise up and reach out to hearts that are hurting and broken, but that it starts with you, as you step forward first and be healed, in the Name of Jesus. Amen. Evangelist Small is the Executive Director of He Restores My Soul Outreach Ministries, Inc., a faith-based not-for-profit organization.

This book features eleven first-person stories of men from diverse class and racial backgrounds who have made a long-term commitment to end their physical and emotional abuse and controlling behaviors. These men speak frankly about the abuse they inflicted on their families, what it took to get them to face themselves, and how they feel about the damage they have caused. All participated in violence intervention programs, some for as long as ten years. To put a face on violence and to encourage activism for reform, most of the eleven have allowed their photos and real names to be used in the book.

Surrounding this material are chapters that provide context about the disputes among researchers about whether batterer intervention programs work (only a small number of batterers renounce their abuse) and chapters that address the reactions of partners to these stories. "When the Man You Love is Abusive" is designed to caution women not to be manipulated by accounts of change and to outline the stages men need to pass through in the long process of becoming accountable. "The Last Word: Voices of Survivors" ends the book with a focus group discussion in which former abuse victims and advocates respond candidly to the men's stories.

This book revisits the issue of Domestic Violence (DV) in Asia by exploring the question of family ambiguity, and interrogating DV's relationship between concept, law and strategy. Comparative experiences in the Asian context enable an examination of the effectiveness of family regulations and laws in diverse national, cultural and religious settings. Key questions relate to the limits and relevance of the human rights discourse in resolving family conflicts; the extent to which power and control in intimate relationships can actually be regulated by a set of inanimate, homogeneous and uniform policies and legislations; and how the state relates to the family as an "ambiguous" unit given state rules of governance that perpetuate unequal gender relations. Many of the difficulties in understanding DV have sprung from the fact that the family unit is ambiguous. When the state intervenes (e.g. reproductive health) the family is treated as a public concern; yet with respect to individual human/multicultural rights, the family is considered a private domain. Complications and contradictions arise with regard to different legislative/religious practices across Asia: for example, the enforcement of Sharia; technocratic imperatives with regard to demographic goals of marriage and reproduction; and state interference of gender imbalances and inequality. The politics and culture around DV is thus a mirror of modern-day Family-State collusion, which sustains rather than curtails discrimination based on sexuality and gender. This book views gender inequality for instance in relation to heteronormativity as the fundamental basis of intimate violence, rather than violence as a generic and neutral phenomenon, requiring generic solutions. It offers news theoretical insights to the conceptualisation of the family, culture and law with respect to DV. And it provides reasoned new perspectives on the effectiveness/inadequacy of present policies, laws and enforcement strategies against domestic violence in Asia.

Understanding Parricide is the most comprehensive book available about juvenile and adult sons and daughters who kill their parents. Dr. Heide moves far behind the statistical correlates of parricide by synthesizing the professional literature on parricide in general, matricide, patricide, double parricides, and familicides. As a clinician, she explains the reasons behind the killings. Understanding Parricide includes in-depth discussion of issues related to prosecuting and defending parricide offenders. The book is enriched with its focus on clinical assessment, case studies, and follow-up of parricide offenders, as well as treatment, risk assessment, and prevention.

A workbook for men who want to improve their behaviour. Must be used in conjunction with Living with the Dominator book by the same author. The workbook is suitable for one-to -one work by professionals with perpetrators of domestic abuse.

"I realized if I could live through all that, then I most certainly could live on I survived my own survival That was my first step toward saying 'I AM MORE '" The second installment in the I AM MORE series, this book tells a story of turbulence and triumph. In the moments after a traumatic event, one is often left feeling as if living on is impossible - as if survival is impossible. Surviving Survival allows the reader a glimpse into the life of a woman who reached that very moment several times over. One day she had an awakening - she already survived She already lived the worst of it. Now, she had to survive survival. She had to learn how to live past the pain. This book deals intimately with the emotions attached to sexual assault, domestic violence, parenting a child with a diagnosed mental illness, single parenting, race, suicide, and of course survival. Her awakening combined with insight from other experts will inspire you on your own journey of surviving survival. A peep inside: "Transform your life now, and you will transform your future." "If you are using what you are going through as an excuse, then you are not using it as a testimony If you are using your past as an excuse then you are not using it as a resource. If you are using what people have said to or about you as an excuse, then you are not using it as motivation. Surviving survival requires excellence not excuses " "How do you survive a bully? You know who you are, and the power you hold A bully's main mission is to make you surrender your power to them. They want you to surrender who you believe you are and embrace who they say you are...The survival I speak of is not limited to physical survival, but mental and emotional survival." "I knew I was created with a purpose. Unfortunately, I thought that purpose was pain. By not understanding my true purpose, I thought I was a defective product. When I launched the plan to combat the enemy that was me, I decided I needed to find out who I was before the pain."

This brief-easy-to-understand book explains what happens when a child discloses abuse and how various systems may respond to this disclosure, from investigation through prosecution or juvenile court involvement to therapy.

Intended for children ages 9-18, this book is written in a supportive tone and helps children to understand what abuse is, the steps that are taken to protect the child, the process of prosecuting the abuser, and the child's own feeling and healing process.

Written by professionals in the fields of clinical service and research, Violence Against Women provides a broad perspective on the causes and consequences of intimate partner violence. It examines a wide range of relationships that may be affected by intimate partner violence and takes a culturally sensitive, international approach to issues underpinning family violence, dating violence, and the injuries children suffer when their caregivers perpetrate violence. Violence Against Women offers insight into a variety of subjects including: Risk assessment for intimate partner violence. Safety planning for victims of intimate partner violence. Criminal prosecution of and protective orders against intimate partner violence. Homicide and suicide related to intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence in LGBTQI relationships. Occurrence of and intervention in cases of intimate partner violence in the military This educational resource offers definitive data to be applied by professionals in cases of intimate partner violence and anticipates future research and innovation in order to foster more effective intervention in cases of domestic violence the world over. The authors, representing the fields of medicine, nursing, social service, law, law enforcement, and public policy, have collaborated to provide a substantive educational reference for clinical care, social policy, and research workers. Violence Against Women is a comprehensive source of multidisciplinary information for professionals and students in need of a sound understanding of intimate partner violence and violence against women in general.

According to the American Medical Association, one quarter of American women will be abused by an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Loving support can make a tremendous difference to survivors as they struggle with the difficult process of healing and regaining trust in themselves and others. Often, however, pastoral caregivers possess the same misconceptions about domestic violence as does the uninformed public. Al Miles addresses the issues related to inadequate pastoral response to this pervasive problem. He explores the dynamics of abusive relationships and the role that clergy members can take to heal this painful situation. The new edition of Domestic Violence builds upon the insights, policies, and programs of the original volume and includes new information on the pathology of domestic violence and the effect the economic downturn is having on victim-survivors and batterers. Miles also focuses on helping clergy and other pastoral ministers develop a more compassionate response to victim-survivors who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. This thoroughly updated edition includes questions for discussion, a list of additional resources, and contact information for state coalitions working to end domestic violence.

"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.

In this groundbreaking memoir, "My Darkest Hour: The Day I Realized I Was Abusive," Harold L. Turley II goes beyond identifying emotional, economical, and domestic abuse/domestic violence to prescribing a course of action for both the victim and abuser.
Coupling stories of how Turley was abused and inflicted abuse upon others, "My Darkest Hour "offers readers the tools needed to recognize a problem in a relationship and how to transform it. His testimony assures one that such a transformation is possible--given the desire to want to change.
Turley also gives advice on how to avoid abusive situations and different ways to channel one's anger. Combining practical applications and Biblical scriptures with his trademark support and assurance, Turley demonstrates how to empower oneself, release abusive behavior, and change life for the better.

Batterer intervention programs are an integral part of any comprehensive approach to domestic violence. However, because intervention programs are relatively new, there is a need for increased communication between programming providers and criminal justice professionals. The latest publication in NIJ's Issues and Practices series, Batterer Intervention: Program Approaches and Criminal Justice Strategies provides judges, prosecutors, and probation officers with the information they need to better understand batterer intervention and make appropriate decisions regarding programming.

In this groundbreaking book, Linda Mills--feminist, scholar, activist, and survivor--challenges the prevailing orthodoxies and maps out a plan to change domestic abuse treatment programs. Drawing on case studies and research from her abuse prevention programs, Mills reveals that intimate abuse is far more complex than we realize, and develops a program for healing that engages everyone caught up in a violent dynamic. Essential reading for therapists, couples, public health experts, and members of the criminal justice system, Violent Partners outlines a breakthrough approach to a major social problem.

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.

Over the last decade, police departments and state's attorney's offices across the country have adopted mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution policies to handle cases of intimate abuse. In addition to protecting victims from future violence, these policies are intended to change abusers by punishing them for their behavior. Emerging at a time when various dimensions of U.S. society are being "governed through crime," mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution have proven controversial. While critics charge that the policies disempower women by removing decision making from them and aggravate the negative consequences of criminal justice interventions in poor and minority communities, proponents maintain that the measures are needed to protect battered women and provide them the same legal protections afforded to other victims of violent crime. Somewhat overlooked in this debate has been how mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution affect abusers, a critical question for understanding the power of criminal punishment to combat intimate partner abuse. In Arresting Abuse, Keith Guzik answers this question. Drawing both from firsthand observations of a police department and a criminal court following mandatory policies and extensive interviews with 30 offenders arrested and prosecuted for domestic violence, Arresting Abuse provides a critical assessment. While mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution allow the state to extend formal legal supervision over an increasing number of violent men and women, thus seemingly increasing its power over them, offenders prove resistant to change. They see themselves as victims of injustice, continue to view their violence as justified, and devise new strategies to preserve their definition and enactment of self. The reasons for these outcomes rest in the nature of power itself-in the state tactics, structures of social inequality, and modes of individual agency through which mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution are realized. A key contribution to domestic violence literature as well as to socio-legal scholarship on the power of the law as a force for social change, Arresting Abuse argues that the promise for defeating intimate partner abuse lies in better matching the tactics of state power to the goals of victim empowerment and offender responsibility and to exercise such force through mechanisms that do not exacerbate social inequality.

Honor killings claim the lives of around 5,000 women every year. Murder in the Name of Honor is Rana Husseini's hard-hitting and controversial examination of honor crimes. Common in many traditional societies around the world, as well as in migrant communities in USA and Europe, they involve a punishment - often death or disfigurement - carried out by a relative to restore the family's honor. Breaking through the conspiracy of silence surrounding this crime, one writer above all others has been instrumental in bringing it to the world's attention: Rana Husseini.

This book explains violent and abusive behaviour and places it in a social context. It can help readers of any age and sexual orientation to change their own behaviour and to recognise when they are being controlled. "I can honestly say that without reading this book (9 times no less ) I don't think that I would be here today, relaxed in my own home with my children that I love so much."

What is often labeled domestic violence is, in this book, referred to as family violence, because the emotional terrorism that infuses violence between adults affects not only the adult victims but also the children who witness the abuse. Dalpiaz shows how a caring and thoughtful parent can recognize the trauma family violence inflicts upon children, and how to help them recover and go on to live happy, violence-free childhoods.

What is often labeled domestic violence is, in this book, referred to as family violence, because the emotional terrorism that infuses violence between adults affects not only the adult victims but also the children who witness the abuse. Dalpiaz shows how a caring and thoughtful parent can recognize the trauma family violence inflicts upon children, and how to help them recover and go on to live happy, violence-free childhoods.

Safeguarding children, building trust and breaking the cycle of violence is the goal. Once the victim of family violence, Dalpiaz later earned degrees in psychology and early childhood education, eventually launching a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children. Her book will interest not only parents who are victims of family violence, but also foster parents dealing with the aftermath of family violence, counselors, teachers, social workers, clergy, and students of the behavioral sciences.

Contrary to the stereotype of the astrong Black woman, a African American women are more plagued by domestic violence than any other racial group in the United States. In fact, African American women experience intimate partner violence at a rate of 35% higher than White women and about two and a half times more than women of other races and ethnicities. This common portrayal can hinder Black women seeking help and support simply because those on the outside donat think help is needed. Yet, as Hillary Potter argues in Battle Cries: Black Women and Intimate Partner Abuse, this stereotype often helps these African American women to resist and to verbally and physically retaliate against their abusers. Thanks to this generalization, Potter observes, Black women are less inclined to label themselves as avictimsa and more inclined to fight back.

Battle Cries is an eye-opening examination of African American womenas experiences with intimate partner abuse, the methods used to contend with abusive mates, and the
immediate and enduring consequences resulting from the maltreatment. Based on intensive interviews with 40 African American women abused by their male partners, Potteras analysis takes into account variations in their experiences based on socioeconomic class, education level, and age, and discusses the common abuses and perceptions they share. Combining her remarkable findings with Black feminist thought and critical race theory, Potter offers a unique and significant window through which we can better understand this understudied though rampant social problem.

In 2006 the Malawian Parliament passed the 'Prevention of Domestic Violence Act', providing a tool for the legal system to address a part of Gender Based Violence. Researchers at the Alan Guttmacher Institute reported in 2006 that 25% of female Malawian adolescents included in the research sample had experienced forced sex. Most of the participants stated that their boyfriends, strangers or a teacher had forced them. Although reliable data on the incidence of Gender Based Violence is scarce, there is an increasing body of knowledge indicating that it is widespread and common. Story Workshop, supported by the Dutch organization Cortaid initiated the Kamanga Zula programme to fight Gender-Based Violence. At the heart of the project is two weekly radio programmes: a serial drama and a panel discussion covering all aspects of Gender Based Violence. A media analysis was carried out and workshops were organized for student journalists, both from the Polytechnic and the Malawi Institute of Journalism. The articles in this publication were written by the participants of those workshops for a media contest, organized as a component of the Kamanga Zula project.

This book focuses on the importance of assessing risk in domestic violence cases to prevent and reduce its escalation into homicide (so called uxoricide). Spousal killers in a substantial number of cases exhibit a history of prior spousal violence: in addition to this, witnessing violence has debilitating effects on children. For this reason domestic violence is also becoming a hot political issue on the European agenda. Integrating the US and Canadian experiences with the European ones increases the book's value and broadens perspectives. Assessing the risk and adopting appropriate measures can help reduce the risk of escalation of violence. It aims at gathering contributions from experts in the field of domestic violence and victimisation to present state of the art research in the risk assessment of domestic violence cases.

"This book offers powerful insights into the experiences of South Asian battered women in the U.S."-Natalie Sokoloff, professor of sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York "If you can read just one book to understand domestic violence in this country, read Body Evidence. Dasgupta brings brilliant voices together to explicate the meanings of sexuality, class, ethnicity, gender, and legal status in the struggle to end violence against women in intimate relationships."-Dr. Ellen Pence, director of Praxis International "The strength of this volume lies in its diversity of views. This book brings a new set of articles into the discourse on violence against women."-Margaret Abraham, author of Speaking the Unspeakable: Marital Violence among South Asian Immigrants in the United States When South Asians immigrated to the United States in the 1970s, they were passionately driven to achieve economic stability and socialize the next generation to retain the traditions of their home culture. The immigrant community went to great lengths to project an impeccable public image by denying the existence of social problems such as domestic violence, sexual assault, mental illness, racism, and intergenerational conflict. It was not until recently that activist groups have worked to bring these issues out into the open. In Body Evidence, more than twenty scholars and public health professionals uncover the unique challenges faced by victims of domestic violence in South Asian American communities. Topics include cultural obsession with women's chastity and virginity; the continued silence surrounding family-based child sexual abuse and intimate violence among women who identify themselves as lesbian, bisexual, or transgender; the consequences of refusing marriage proposals or failing to meet dowry demands; and, ultimately, the ways in which the U.S. courts often confuse and exacerbate the plights of these women. Shamita Das Dasgupta is an adjunct assistant professor of clinical law at New York University's School of Law and cofounder of Manavi, Inc.