Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Unintended consequences of constructing criminal justice as a dominant paradigm in understanding and intervening intimate partner violence
Other Titles:	Women's studies quarterly.
Authors:	Cramer, Elizabeth P
Keywords:	Criminal justice responses
Year:	2005
Publisher:	Feminist Press
Citation:	33 (1 & 2), Spring 2005
Notes:	General overview: Cramer notes that the criminal justice approach – arrest, prosecution, punishment, protection orders and court-ordered treatment for batterers - has been the primary community response to domestic violence. While this method has protected many women, there have been some undesirable outcomes, including the underutilisation of the criminal justice system, ineffective treatment programs, inadequate primary prevention efforts and victim disempowerment. Discussion: A paradigm is a frame of reference for viewing the world. When communities agreed that domestic violence was a public issue, rather than a private matter, a number of paradigms emerged. The feminist paradigm emphasised gender socialisation and patriarchy in understanding domestic violence. Practices consistent with this paradigm include survivor empowerment, batterer accountability, the provision of safety and justice to battered women and support groups. The clinical paradigm focuses on the psychopathology of the batterer and the abused women and uses group work to assist both people to recognise their contribution to the violence. The criminal justice paradigm sees domestic violence as a crime, requiring police intervention, prosecution and punishment. However the criminal justice system has been slow to come to terms with the uncooperative witness – that is, the abused woman who does not call the police, who denies abuse, who will not make a statement, who refuses to give evidence or who fails to report breaches of a protection order. Women of colour are particularly reluctant to involve the criminal justice system due to concerns that their partners will be treated unfairly, while immigrant women may be fearful of deportation. Some women are not ready to leave their abusers because they love them. The criminal justice system relies on batterer treatment programs. However there are difficulties in measuring the success of these programs, many ignore issues of race, culture, ethnicity, and class, and some appear to make the abusers attending treatment more angry. The majority of abusive men are not reported to the criminal justice system and are not punished or subject to treatment. However, most resources to address domestic violence are directed at the criminal justice system, rather than to primary prevention efforts. When a battered woman contacts the police, her goal may be to stop the violence presently occurring, rather than to have her partner arrested, charged, convicted and punished. Policies such as mandatory arrest and a refusal to take the victim’s views into account in deciding whether to prosecute leave a victim disempowered. These policies are intended to protect the victim but are paternalistic. Alternative approaches would allow the battered woman to choose from a number of options, and service providers would respect women’s choices. Options might include restorative justice approaches, allowing women to have some control over the decision to arrest and the court process, and providing rehabilitation for the abuser. On a wider level, preventative community education and early intervention activities would also contribute to the empowerment of women.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/12810
ISSN:	7321562
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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