Accessing Justice For Violence Against Women

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.

This book examines violence against women in Africa and criminal justice from the perspective of African scholars, practitioners and experts. As a global and long-standing issue, violence against women is gaining public visibility across the African continent with some states announcing a national crisis warranting immediate redress. At the global level, the elimination of all forms of violence against all women and girls forms a key part of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality. Split across two volumes, these books present a comprehensive analysis of the latest research and theories, principles and practices of criminal justice systems, criminal justice accountability mechanisms, and the key challenges women face in their quest for justice on the African continent. Volume I focusses on legislation and its impact, the limitations of criminal justice responses, and the cultural and social norms regarding access to justice. Volume II examines sexual violence and vulnerable women’s access to justice in Africa. They adopt a comparative approach that highlight gaps and good practices to provide a rich source of authoritative information for promoting an intra-African dialogue and cross-fertilization of ideas across the different criminal justice traditions in Africa. Both volumes seek to advance discussions on eliminating violence against women in Africa and speak to those interested in criminal justice, violence, gender studies and African legal studies.

Violence against women is a global problem and despite a wealth of knowledge and inspiring action around the globe, it continues unabated. Bringing together the very best in international scholarship with a rich variety of pedagogical features, this innovative new textbook on violence against women is specifically designed to provoke debate, interrogate assumptions and encourage critical thinking about this global issue. This book presents a range of critical reflections on the strengths and limitations of responses to violent crimes against women and how they have evolved to date. Each section is introduced with an overview of a particular topic by an expert in the field, followed by thoughtful reflections by researchers, practitioners, or advocates that incorporate new research findings, a new initiative, or innovative ideas for reform. Themes covered include: advances in measurement of violence against women, justice system responses to intimate partner violence and sexual assault, victim crisis and advocacy, behaviour change programs for abusers, and prevention of violence against women. Each section is supplemented with learning objectives, critical thinking questions and lists of further reading and resources to encourage discussion and to help students to appreciate the contested nature of policy. The innovative structure will bring debate alive in the classroom or seminar and makes the book perfect reading for courses on violence against women, gender and crime, victimology, and crime prevention.

"The ICJ addresses women's access to justice for gender based violence in its new Practitioners' Guide, launched today on International Women's Day. Since the early 1990s there has been international recognition of the problem of gender-based violence and awareness that this impairs the ability of women and girls to access and enjoy all the rights that should be available to them as afforded under international law. However, in 2016, violence against women remains a public health problem of epidemic proportions, thought to affect between 35-70 per cent of all women and girls at some point during their lives. The ICJ's 12th Practitioner's Guide, Women's Access to Justice for Gender-Based Violence, is designed to support legal practitioners and human rights defenders involved, or interested, in pursuing cases of gender-based violence. Lasting change to address the root causes of violence against women can only take place as part of a coordinated effort on behalf of multiple stakeholders, however the ICJ believes that legal practitioners and human rights defenders are indispensible to addressing the problem and realizing women's access to justice. Access to justice for gender-based violence means that States must implement a range of measures that recognize violence against women as a crime and ensure appropriate procedures are in place that enable investigations, prosecutions and access to effective remedies and reparation. These measures may, where necessary, include amending or adopting national legislation. The ICJ produced this Guide as part of an ongoing project on empowering legal practitioners and human rights defenders seeking justice for women. Woven into the Guide are commentaries, reflections and recommendations from legal advocates and women human rights defenders from their experiences in this area. The Guide provides information about regional and international law and standards relevant to gender-based violence, advice on implementing these standards as part of domestic law reform and examples of existing good practice in seeking protection for women. It also contains a summary of some leading academic literature and civil society commentary and research, signposting users to other in-depth sources where these may be potentially relevant. The new Guide also addresses the practical issues that are faced by women who have been subject to gender-based violence and the steps that are necessary to secure their access to justice in practice. It considers women's experiences of the criminal justice system and reflects on how the justice process deals with women’s safety and need for access to services beyond legal assistance. The ICJ intends for this guide to be used as a practical tool to assist in navigating individual cases as well as a means of advocating for change on a larger scale. The ICJ believes that enabling women's access to justice for gender-based violence will lead to new norms of acceptability, where children and young people are raised to reject gender discrimination and violence."--

This book examines violence against women in Africa and criminal justice from the perspective of African scholars, practitioners and experts. As a global and long-standing issue, violence against women is gaining public visibility across the African continent with some states announcing a national crisis warranting immediate redress. At the global level, the elimination of all forms of violence against all women and girls forms a key part of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality. Split across two volumes, these books present a comprehensive analysis of the latest research and theories, principles and practices of criminal justice systems, criminal justice accountability mechanisms, and the key challenges women face in their quest for justice on the African continent. This volume (II) focusses on sexual violence and vulnerable women’s access to justice in Africa. Volume I focusses on legislation and its impact, the limitations of criminal justice responses, and the cultural and social norms regarding access to justice. Together, they adopt a comparative approach that highlight gaps and good practices to provide a rich source of authoritative information for promoting an intra-African dialogue and cross-fertilization of ideas across the different criminal justice traditions in Africa. Both volumes seek to advance discussions on eliminating violence against women in Africa and speak to those interested in criminal justice, violence, gender studies and African legal studies.

In recognition of the importance of exploring barriers to justice for abused immigrant women residing in predominately rural areas, this study was designed to identify the reasons why abused immigrant women in New Brunswick are reluctant to access the criminal justice system and justice-related services; and to identify, from the perspective of immigrant women, a set of realistic recommendations to make the criminal justice system and justice-related services more accessible of abused immigrant women.

Drawing on cases, Stark identifies the problems with our current approach to domestic violence, outlines the components of coercive control, and then uses this alternate framework to analyse the cases of battered women charged with criminal offenses directed at their abusers.

Sexual Assault in Canada is the first English-language book in almost two decades to assess the state of sexual assault law and legal practice in Canada. Gathering together feminist scholars, lawyers, activists and policy-makers, it presents a picture of the difficult issues that Canadian women face when reporting and prosecuting sexual violence. The volume addresses many themes including the systematic undermining of women who have been sexually assaulted, the experiences of marginalized women, and the role of women’s activism. It explores sexual assault in various contexts, including professional sports, the doctor–patient relationship, and residential schools. And it highlights the influence of certain players in the reporting and litigation of sexual violence, including health care providers, social workers, police, lawyers and judges. Sexual Assault in Canada provides both a multi-faceted assessment of the progress of feminist reforms to Canadian sexual assault law and practice, and articulates a myriad of new ideas, proposed changes to law, and inspired activist strategies. This book was created to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Jane Doe’s remarkable legal victory against the Toronto police for sex discrimination in the policing of rape and for negligence in failing to warn her of a serial rapist. The case made legal history and motivated a new generation of feminist activists. This book honours her pioneering work by reflecting on how law, legal practice and activism have evolved over the past decade and where feminist research and reform should lead in the years to come.