Domestic Violence As State Crime

Domestic Violence as State Crime presents a provocative challenge to the way that domestic violence is understood and addressed. Underpinned by a radical feminist perspective, the central argument of this book is that domestic violence against women constitutes a patriarchal state crime. By analysing the international, collective, structural, and institutional dimensions of this harm, the author outlines a spectrum of state complicity ranging from passive bystander to active producer, participant, and perpetrator. The wide-ranging analysis in this book draws on data from comparable liberal-democratic contexts including Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, in order to comprehensively show how domestic violence state criminality functions in practice – even in the present and in supposedly progressive contexts. This analysis provides valuable insight into why this epidemic-scale crime is ever resistant to a diversity of contemporary interventions. Drawing its concepts into a cohesive whole, the book then posits an overarching feminist typological theory of domestic violence as state crime. It also considers how domestic violence might be addressed if we confront its state crime dimensions and adopt a more holistic and transformative approach to remedy, redress, prevention, and justice. An accessible and compelling read, Domestic Violence as State Crime offers an innovative scholarly and activist contribution to the study of violence against women, feminism, criminology, and the broader critical study of law, politics, and society. It will appeal to anyone who is interested in thinking differently about domestic violence and the state.

This study of domestic violence looks at the social, political and criminal aspects of the subject. It explores the role of police, the extent of the problem, women's experience of violence and protection and current developments in the policing and prosecution of violence against women.

This new edition of the authors' best-selling text explores the response to domestic violence today, not only by the criminal justice system, but also by social service and health care agencies. After providing a brief theoretical overview of the causes of domestic violence and its prevalence in our society and its causes, the authors cover such key topics as barriers to intervention, variations in arrest practices, the role of state and federal legislation, and case prosecution. Focusing on both victims and offenders, the book includes unique chapters on models for judicial intervention, domestic violence and health, and children and domestic violence.

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.

The United Nations has called violence against women "the most pervasive, yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world" and there is a long-established history of the systematic victimization of women by the state during times of peace and conflict. This book contributes to the established literature on women, gender and crime and the growing research on state crime and extends the discussion of violence against women to include the role and extent of crime and violence perpetrated by the state. State Crime, Women and Gender examines state-perpetrated violence against women in all its various forms. Drawing on case studies from around the world, patterns of state-perpetrated violence are examined as it relates to women’s victimization, their role as perpetrators, resistors of state violence, as well as their engagement as professionals in the international criminal justice system. From the direct involvement of Condaleeza Rice in the United States-led war on terror, to the women of Egypt’s Arab Spring Uprising, to Afghani poetry as a means to resist state-sanctioned patriarchal control, case examples are used to highlight the pervasive and enduring problem of state-perpetrated violence against women. The exploration of topics that have not previously been addressed in the criminological literature, such as women as perpetrators of state violence and their role as willing consumers who reinforce and replicate the existing state-sanctioned patriarchal status quo, makes State Crime, Women and Gender a must-read for students and scholars engaged in the study of state crime, victimology and feminist criminology.

Through a collection of essays by leading scholars in the field, State Crime offers a set of cases exemplifying state criminality along with various methods for controlling governmental transgressions.

This volume addresses the varied response to domestic violence in a comparative, international context. The chapters are laid out in a consistent format, to cover: the nature of the domestic violence problem, theoretical explanations, the criminal justice response, as well as health care and social service interventions in each country. The intent of the book is to provide an introduction to the attitudes and responses to domestic violence in various regions, to provide meaningful comparisons and share information on best practices for different populations and regions. There are considerable variations to domestic violence approaches across cultures and regions. In some places, it is considered a “private” or “family” matter, which can help it perpetuate. At the same time, the United States’ approach to domestic violence has been criticized by some as being too focused on the criminal justice system, rather than other types of interventions which aim to keep families intact. This comprehensive work aims to highlight innovative approaches from several regions, important cultural sensitivities and concerns, and provide analysis to identify the strengths and weakness of various approaches. This work will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, as well as related fields who deal with domestic violence and violence against women, including sociology and social work, and international justice. Practitioners and policymakers will also find it informative.

Presents overviews of domestic violence in thirteen countries around the world, including Australia, Jamaica, Japan, Russia, and the U.S., describing perceptions of domestic violence in each country as well as contributing factors and responses to the problem.