NCJ Number
156623
Editor(s)
L F Farr,
B Jimpson
Date Published
Unknown
Length
360 pages
Annotation
This manual provides information and guidelines for those who are helping battered women deal with their plight and includes suggestions for helping various populations of battered women, advocacy techniques, and legal remedies and procedures typically associated with advocacy for battered women.
Abstract
The various populations of battered women discussed are immigrant and refugee women; young women, including runaway children; lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women; vulnerable adults, including those who are chemically dependent and mentally ill; women with children; women used in prostitution; and homeless women. In profiling these various populations of battered women, guidelines are also provided for advocacy techniques that take into account their distinctive characteristics. A major section on how to advocate for battered women includes a discussion of the violence of "colonization." "Colonization" refers to an action, a social force, institutionalized violence, and society's use of government to define and confine people of color. Advocacy for such women includes the development of culturally appropriate services, effective networking, appropriate referral, and helping a woman explore what she needs to prevent/escape the violence and help change the social structure and values that foster the violence. Other topics discussed in relation to advocacy are the ethics of advocacy, advocacy for liability and safety, safety planning for battered women, advocacy in rural areas, sexual harassment and exploitation, and strategies for addressing homophobia in court proceedings. The final section focuses on various issues that pertain to legal advocacy for battered women, such as court procedures, court interpreters, orders for protection, family court, tribal courts, special laws that protect children of color, guardians ad litem, mediation, criminal law, and battered women as criminal defendants.