The mission of the Battered Women's Justice Project is to promote systemic change within community organizations and governmental agencies engaged in the civil and criminal response to domestic violence that creates true institutional accountability to the goal of ensuring safety for battered women and atheir families. To this end, BWJP undertakes projects on the local, state, national, and international levels.
This book takes as its operating premise that violence against women is prevalent throughout the world, that intimate violence is an important aspect of the broader problem of violence against women, and that the legal system has a crucial part to play in combating all forms of violence against women.
A training resource for anyone working with battered women, especially in rural areas, Rural Woman Battering and the Justice System is recommended for law enforcement and criminal justice professionals, practitioners, advocates, shelter personnel, and advanced students in related courses of study, as well as academics and researchers.
The contributors provide an overview of programs and policies, covering a wide range of possible responses and interventions by police, doctors, social workers and psychiatristics, as well as hotlines, shelters, support groups and legal remedies.
Controversial and forward-thinking, this volume presents a much-needed analysis of restorative justice practices in cases of violence against women. Advocates, community activists, and scholars will find the theoretical perspectives and vivid case descriptions presented here to be invaluable tools for creating new ways for abused women to find justice.
In this latest edition of her groundbreaking book, Dr. Lenore Walker has provided a thorough update to her original findings in the field of domestic abuse. Each chapter has been expanded to include new research. The volume contains the latest on the impact of exposure to violence on children, marital rape, child abuse, personality characteristics of different types of batterers, new psychotherapy models for batterers and their victims, and more. Walker also speaks out on her involvement in the O.J. Simpson trial as a defense witness and how he does not fit the empirical data known for domestic violence. This volume should be required reading for all professionals in the field of domestic abuse. For Further Information, Please Click Here!
In December 1990 Ohio governor Richard F. Celeste granted clemency to 25 women who had been incarcerated for killing or assaulting abusive partners or stepfathers. Governors in other states quickly followed. This book documents the history of the feminist and social activist groups working within the context of the battered women's movement and the role they playing in making these events possible. The book examines the Ohio movement as a precedent-setting case study, then discusses and analyzes events in six other states where large-scale clemencies were achieved or attempted. Before clemency became a movement goal, feminist legal activists worked for two decades to challenge laws that they argued prevented women from fully defending themselves when accused of killing abusive men. One focus was to ensure that the women who killed could describe the danger with which they had lived and explain the basis of their belief that force was needed to defend their lives. Within a few years, some activists began to frame their legal defense strategies within the language of the battered woman syndrome, a strategy that remains controversial. The book analyses the strategies and achievements of the movement for clemency review, identifying the factors that led to success or failure. The last chapter looks at the post-prison lives of some of the 25 Ohio women who received clemency.
Donald Downs offers an analysis of the injustices behind the logic of battered woman syndrome, concluding that this very logic harms those it is trying to protect. This work seeks to rethink the criminal justice system.
Illuminates the threats Black women face and the lack of substantive public policy towards gendered violence Black women in marginalized communities are uniquely at risk of battering, rape, sexual harassment, stalking and incest. Through the compelling stories of Black women who have been most affected by racism, persistent poverty, class inequality, limited access to support resources or institutions, Beth E. Richie shows that the threat of violence to Black women has never been more serious, demonstrating how conservative legal, social, political and economic policies have impacted activism in the U.S.-based movement to end violence against women. Richie argues that Black women face particular peril because of the ways that race and culture have not figured centrally enough in the analysis of the causes and consequences of gender violence. As a result, the extent of physical, sexual and other forms of violence in the lives of Black women, the various forms it takes, and the contexts within which it occurs are minimized—at best—and frequently ignored. Arrested Justice brings issues of sexuality, class, age, and criminalization into focus right alongside of questions of public policy and gender violence, resulting in a compelling critique, a passionate re-framing of stories, and a call to action for change.
