This open access book brings together leading international violence researchers to examine the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on experiences of, and responses to, domestic and family violence. In April 2020 the United Nations predicted that for every three months the COVID-19 lockdowns continued an additional 15 million cases of domestic violence would occur worldwide, termed the "shadow pandemic". Drawing on empirical work situated within an international context, this book presents evidence alongside country specific case studies to provide a global exploration of how women’s insecurity increased during this global health crisis at the same as their access to support services reduced. It provides a timely analysis of the degree to which the pandemic and associated government restrictions impacted on women’s experiences of violence with particular attention to changes in its prevalence and severity, and in system and service responses to women’s help-seeking. In addition, the differential impacts of the pandemic in relation to the experiences of priority cohorts, including violence experienced by children and temporary migrant women is also explored. The key focus is on the nature, extent, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on service delivery, accessibility of support, and access to justice for women experiencing domestic and family violence. 

This book maps the problems and possibilities of the policies and practices designed to tackle violence against women in the domestic sphere over the last 40 years. In 2018, the United Nations declared the home the most dangerous place for women around the word, and in early April 2020, the United Nations Population Fund predicted that for every three months that government enforced lockdowns in response to coronavirus an additional 15 million cases of domestic violence would occur worldwide. This book asks the simple yet critical question: how can governments best ensure women’s safety in the twenty-first century? Taking its title from Elizabeth Wilson’s 1983 book and her three-level approach of considering the role of social policy, the law and ideology, Fitz-Gibbon and Walklate draw on their expertise on femicide, domestic abuse and family violence to examine the salience of global and local policy and practice responses to such violence(s), and to ask timely questions about the ongoing value of the recourse to the criminal law for twenty-first century policy. Comparative in orientation, appreciative of the importance of geographical and social context, and committed to understanding the historical processes that continue to frame policy responses, this book takes a long hard look at what has and has not been achieved in relation to domestic abuse and family violence and seeks to challenge all that has come to be taken for granted in responding to such violence(s). Published in the 40th Anniversary of Elizabeth Wilson’s ground-breaking contribution, this book is destined to become a classic in its own right. It is essential reading for all those engaged in feminist criminology, gender and crime, family and domestic violence, and violence against women.

This book examines the use of violence by children and young people in family settings and proposes specialised and age-appropriate responses to these children and young people It interrogates the adequacy and effectiveness of current service and justice system responses, including analysis of police, court and specialist service responses. It proposes new approaches to children and young people who use violence that are evidence based, non-punitive, and informed by an understanding of the complexity of needs and the importance of age appropriate service responses. Bringing together a range of Australian and International experts, it sheds new light on questions such as: How can we best understand and respond to the use of family violence by young people? To what extent do traditional family violence responses address the experiences of adolescents who use violence in family settings? What barriers to help seeking exist for parental and sibling victims of adolescent family violence? To what degree do existing support and justice services provide adequate responses to those using adolescent family violence and their families? In what circumstances do children kill their biological and adopted parents? The explicit focus on child and adolescent family violence produces new knowledge in the area of family violence, which will be of relevance to academics, policy makers and family violence practitioners in Australia and internationally.

This book critically examines the operation of the partial defence of provocation in a range of comparative international jurisdictions. Centrally concerned with conceptual questions of gender, justice and the role of denial in the criminal justice system, Fitz-Gibbon explores the divergent approaches taken to reforming the law of provocation.

This book maps the problems and possibilities of the policies and practices designed to tackle violence against women in the domestic sphere over the last 40 years. In 2018, the United Nations declared the home the most dangerous place for women around the word, and in early April 2020, the United Nations Population Fund predicted that for every three months that government enforced lockdowns in response to coronavirus an additional 15 million cases of domestic violence would occur worldwide. This book asks the simple yet critical question: how can governments best ensure women’s safety in the twenty-first century? Taking its title from Elizabeth Wilson’s 1983 book and her three-level approach of considering the role of social policy, the law and ideology, Fitz-Gibbon and Walklate draw on their expertise on femicide, domestic abuse and family violence to examine the salience of global and local policy and practice responses to such violence(s), and to ask timely questions about the ongoing value of the recourse to the criminal law for twenty-first century policy. Comparative in orientation, appreciative of the importance of geographical and social context, and committed to understanding the historical processes that continue to frame policy responses, this book takes a long hard look at what has and has not been achieved in relation to domestic abuse and family violence and seeks to challenge all that has come to be taken for granted in responding to such violence(s). Published in the 40th Anniversary of Elizabeth Wilson’s ground-breaking contribution, this book is destined to become a classic in its own right. It is essential reading for all those engaged in feminist criminology, gender and crime, family and domestic violence, and violence against women.

Increasingly there is global attention on the prevalence of women's deaths resulting from intimate partner violence. Campaigns such as 'Counting Dead Women' in Australia, the 'Femicide Census' in England, the Canadian Femicide Observatory, and the emergence of family violence death review teams globally, build on the work of agencies such as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation, highlighting the fatal consequences of intimate partner violence for women around the world. This book considers the need for and the steps to be taken towards creating a meaningful framework for a global index of women's deaths from intimate partner violence. While there are global indices for deaths that relate to public violence, such as terrorism, there is to date no systematic global count of killings of women by their intimate partners. It considers the possibilities and challenges that arise in counting intimate femicide. It argues that such an exercise needs to avoid narrow empiricism and instead be part of a broader feminist political project aimed at ending violence against women. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, law, policing, and politics.

The crime of homicide has long animated academic debate, community concern and political attention. The discussion has often centered on the perceived (in)adequacy of legal responses to homicide, questions of culpability, and divergent representations of victims and offenders. Within this, notions of gender, responsibility and justice are pivotal. This edited collection builds on existing scholarship by examining these concerns not only in the context of the 'private' world of domestic murder but also in the more 'public' world of the state, the corporation, war, and genocide. In so doing this book draws from key frameworks of criminological thought, legal analysis and empirical evidence to critically examine the relationship between homicide, gender and responsibility. Bringing together leading international criminology and legal scholars, this collection provides a unique contribution to the academic and policy engagement with what is, more often than not, an ordinary and mundane crime. Analysing the crime in a variety of different social contexts alongside an in-depth and critical analysis of the interconnections between the ordinary act of lethal violence, gender and notions of responsibility, this book will be of interest to students, scholars and policymakers working in criminology and socio-legal studies.

Increasingly there is global attention on the prevalence of women's deaths resulting from intimate partner violence. Campaigns such as 'Counting Dead Women' in Australia, the 'Femicide Census' in England, the Canadian Femicide Observatory, and the emergence of family violence death review teams globally, build on the work of agencies such as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation, highlighting the fatal consequences of intimate partner violence for women around the world. This book considers the need for and the steps to be taken towards creating a meaningful framework for a global index of women's deaths from intimate partner violence. While there are global indices for deaths that relate to public violence, such as terrorism, there is to date no systematic global count of killings of women by their intimate partners. It considers the possibilities and challenges that arise in counting intimate femicide. It argues that such an exercise needs to avoid narrow empiricism and instead be part of a broader feminist political project aimed at ending violence against women. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, law, policing, and politics.

This book examines the use of violence by children and young people in family settings and proposes specialised and age-appropriate responses to these children and young people It interrogates the adequacy and effectiveness of current service and justice system responses, including analysis of police, court and specialist service responses. It proposes new approaches to children and young people who use violence that are evidence based, non-punitive, and informed by an understanding of the complexity of needs and the importance of age appropriate service responses. Bringing together a range of Australian and International experts, it sheds new light on questions such as: How can we best understand and respond to the use of family violence by young people? To what extent do traditional family violence responses address the experiences of adolescents who use violence in family settings? What barriers to help seeking exist for parental and sibling victims of adolescent family violence? To what degree do existing support and justice services provide adequate responses to those using adolescent family violence and their families? In what circumstances do children kill their biological and adopted parents? The explicit focus on child and adolescent family violence produces new knowledge in the area of family violence, which will be of relevance to academics, policy makers and family violence practitioners in Australia and internationally.

This edited collection addresses intimate partner violence, risk and security as global issues. Although intimate partner violence, risk and security are intimately connected they are rarely considered in tandem in the context of global security. Yet, intimate partner violence causes widespread physical, sexual and/or psychological harm. It is the most common type of violence against women internationally and is estimated to affect 30 per cent of women worldwide. Intimate partner violence has received significant attention in recent years, animating political debate, policy and law reform as well as scholarly attention. In bringing together a range of international experts, this edited collection challenges status quo understandings of risk and questions how we can reposition the risk of IPV, and particularly the risk of IPH, as a critical site of global and national security. It brings together contributions from a range of disciplines and international jurisdictions, including from Australia and New Zealand, United Kingdom, Europe, United States, North America, Brazil and South Africa. The contributions here urge us to think about perpetrators in more nuanced and sophisticated ways with chapters pointing to the structural and social factors that facilitate and sustain violence against women and IPV. Contributors point out that states not only exacerbate the structural conditions producing the risks of violence, but directly coerce and control women as both citizens and non-citizens. States too should be understood as collaborators and facilitators of intimate partner violence. Effective action against intimate partner violence requires sustained responses at the global, state and local levels to end gender inequality. Critical to this end are environmental issues, poverty and the divisions, often along 'race' and ethnic lines, underpinning other dimensions of social and economic inequality.

This book critically examines the operation of the partial defence of provocation in a range of comparative international jurisdictions. Centrally concerned with conceptual questions of gender, justice and the role of denial in the criminal justice system, Fitz-Gibbon explores the divergent approaches taken to reforming the law of provocation.

The Emerald Handbook of Criminology, Feminism and Social Change combines a wide range of international contributors to chart the uneasy relationship between feminism, criminology and victimology. It explores historical and contemporary questions posed for criminology and victimology by feminist work. The book is split into four sections which introduce the origins of feminist criminology; explore research beyond the northern hemisphere; extend the criminological agenda; and look to the future relationship between feminism and criminology. Comprehensive and current, this handbook provides fresh insight and commentary on the capacity of criminology to listen to feminist voices and is essential reading for anyone interested in feminism, criminology and social change.

This edited collection addresses intimate partner violence, risk and security as global issues. Although intimate partner violence, risk and security are intimately connected they are rarely considered in tandem in the context of global security. Yet, intimate partner violence causes widespread physical, sexual and/or psychological harm. It is the most common type of violence against women internationally and is estimated to affect 30 per cent of women worldwide. Intimate partner violence has received significant attention in recent years, animating political debate, policy and law reform as well as scholarly attention. In bringing together a range of international experts, this edited collection challenges status quo understandings of risk and questions how we can reposition the risk of IPV, and particularly the risk of IPH, as a critical site of global and national security. It brings together contributions from a range of disciplines and international jurisdictions, including from Australia and New Zealand, United Kingdom, Europe, United States, North America, Brazil and South Africa. The contributions here urge us to think about perpetrators in more nuanced and sophisticated ways with chapters pointing to the structural and social factors that facilitate and sustain violence against women and IPV. Contributors point out that states not only exacerbate the structural conditions producing the risks of violence, but directly coerce and control women as both citizens and non-citizens. States too should be understood as collaborators and facilitators of intimate partner violence. Effective action against intimate partner violence requires sustained responses at the global, state and local levels to end gender inequality. Critical to this end are environmental issues, poverty and the divisions, often along 'race' and ethnic lines, underpinning other dimensions of social and economic inequality.

This book examines the relationship between gender and crime and explores both the gendered nature of crime alongside the gendered nature of criminal victimisation. Covering theory, policy and practice, this new edition has been fully revised to reflect the wider changes, development and influence of gendered thinking in these areas. It brings together a range of key issues, including: Theories and concepts in feminist criminology, Gender and victimisation, Sexual and domestic violence, Male dominance in the criminal justice system, Gendered perspectives in law and criminal justice policy. New to the third edition is increased coverage of gender and crime in international perspective, particularly within the global south, and emerging concepts of risk and security. This is essential reading for advanced courses on gender and crime, women and crime, and feminist criminology.

This book examines the relationship between gender and crime and explores both the gendered nature of crime alongside the gendered nature of criminal victimisation. Covering theory, policy and practice, this new edition has been fully revised to reflect the wider changes, development and influence of gendered thinking in these areas. It brings together a range of key issues, including: Theories and concepts in feminist criminology, Gender and victimisation, Sexual and domestic violence, Male dominance in the criminal justice system, Gendered perspectives in law and criminal justice policy. New to the third edition is increased coverage of gender and crime in international perspective, particularly within the global south, and emerging concepts of risk and security. This is essential reading for advanced courses on gender and crime, women and crime, and feminist criminology.

The Emerald Handbook of Crime, Justice and Sustainable Development brings together a diverse and international collection of essays to critically examine issues relating to crime and justice in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides an important global framework for advancing human rights, social justice and environmental sustainability. A number of the Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address issues relating to crime, justice and security, and implicit in the 2030 Agenda is the assumption that members of the international community 'including traditional development actors and the myriad international, non-governmental, private, state and local organizations and actors that collectively contribute to the global governance of crime' must work together to enhance the capacities of both developing and developed countries to achieve this vision. Against this backdrop, this volume analyses and interrogates the SDGs from different theoretical and ideological standpoints originating from within and beyond criminology, illustrating the complex and politically contentious nature of these issues and providing insight into the different possibilities that exist for realising the SDGs and mitigating the risk that initiatives meant to realise the SDGs, may in fact contribute to harmful and counterproductive policies and practices. This book will be essential reading for scholars and students within criminology, criminal justice, socio-legal studies, international relations and development studies.

Historically states have failed to seriously confront violence against women. In response, in many countries women's rights movements have called on the government to prioritize state intervention in cases involving violence between intimate partners, sexual harassment, rape, and sexual assault by both strangers and intimate partners. Those interventions have taken various forms, including the passage of substantive civil and criminal laws governing intimate partner violence, rape and sexual assault, and sexual harassment; the development of civil orders of protection; and the introduction of procedures in the criminal legal system to ensure the effective intervention of police and prosecutors. Indeed, many countries have relied upon intervention by the criminal legal system to meet their requirements under international human rights standards that obligate states to prevent, protect from, prosecute, punish, and provide redress for violence. Although states have taken divergent approaches to the passage and implementation of criminal laws and procedures to address violence against women, two things are clear: criminalization is a primary strategy relied upon by most nations, and yet criminalization is not having the desired impact. This collection explores the extent to which nations have adopted criminal legal reforms to address violence against women, the consequences associated with the implementation of those laws and policies, and who bears those consequences most heavily. The chapters examine the need for both more and less criminalization, ask whether we should think differently about criminalization, and explore the tensions that emerge when criminal law, civil law and social policy speak or fail to speak to each other. Drawing on criminalization approaches and recent debates from across the globe, this collection provides a comparative approach to assess the scope, impact of, and alternatives to criminalization in the response to violence against women.

The crime of homicide has long animated academic debate, community concern and political attention. The discussion has often centered on the perceived (in)adequacy of legal responses to homicide, questions of culpability, and divergent representations of victims and offenders. Within this, notions of gender, responsibility and justice are pivotal. This edited collection builds on existing scholarship by examining these concerns not only in the context of the 'private' world of domestic murder but also in the more 'public' world of the state, the corporation, war, and genocide. In so doing this book draws from key frameworks of criminological thought, legal analysis and empirical evidence to critically examine the relationship between homicide, gender and responsibility. Bringing together leading international criminology and legal scholars, this collection provides a unique contribution to the academic and policy engagement with what is, more often than not, an ordinary and mundane crime. Analysing the crime in a variety of different social contexts alongside an in-depth and critical analysis of the interconnections between the ordinary act of lethal violence, gender and notions of responsibility, this book will be of interest to students, scholars and policymakers working in criminology and socio-legal studies.

2015 marks a decade since the release of the Victorian Law Reform Commission's Defences to Homicide: Final Report. The Commission's Final Report recommended major changes to the law of homicide in Victoria and in 2005, the Victorian government responded to the 56 recommendations by implementing the largest package of homicide law reforms since the abolition of the death penalty. This book brings together leading scholars, legal practitioners and the former Victorian Attorney-General to provide a comprehensive examination of the Victorian experience of reform, including its perceived successes and failures. This is a controversial area of the law that continues to present challenges in practice. Since the 2005 reforms further reform of the law has occurred in Victoria and a range of divergent approaches to homicide law reform have been introduced and animated debate across Australia and internationally. With such a high level of law reform activity nationally this book provides a timely analysis of the extent to which the Victorian reforms have improved legal responses to lethal violence and with what effect in practice. To enhance this analysis the book also looks internationally to consider the operation of homicide law in England and Wales, Canada and New Zealand and what lessons could be gained from an Australian perspective from differing approaches to reform. This book explores a number of issues concerning the operation of the law of homicide, sentencing practices, the role of the media, evidence reforms, legal culture, political influences and future reform challenges for Victoria and other Australian jurisdictions. In examining all aspects of the 2005 homicide law reforms, the book draws on the views of those who were involved in reviewing the law of homicide in Victoria, those who recommended and implemented reform, and those who have played a key role in the monitoring and evaluation of the law post-reform in Victoria but also more widely in Australia and internationally. The resulting analysis will be of great interest to law, criminology and socio-legal scholars as well as legal practitioners and law reformers in Australia and comparative international jurisdictions.

Tina Thomas would have been turning 35 on the day that her husband of less than two weeks stood trial for her murder in the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, US. Eight years and almost four months had passed since Tina died on her honeymoon, while scuba diving near the SS Yongala wreck on the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Queensland, Australia. During this period, there had been extensive police investigations conducted by local, state and federal agencies in Queensland and the United States; a coronial inquest; a ridiculed plea bargain; a successful appeal against the manifest inadequacy of a 12 month sentence; 18 months served in Borallon Correctional Centre in Queensland; a grand jury indictment in Alabama; several days spent in an Australian immigration detention centre; an international agreement not to seek the death penalty; a deportation and several pre-trial hearings - every step of which was covered by endless public, media and social commentary. As the trial of Gabe Watson on a charge of capital murder for pecuniary gain began, so too did the possible final chapter in this tragic, drawn-out story. Monday, 13 February 2012, provided the date for the commencement of Gabe's capital murder trial in Alabama, and the possibility that a second chance for justice could unfold . . . or could it?From the perspectives of the police investigators, the prosecution, the defence and Tina and Gabe's families, this book examines the ongoing quest for justice in the controversial double prosecution of Gabe Watson for the death of Tina Thomas.