NCJ Number
237171
Journal
Journal of Child Custody Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: April-June 2010 Pages: 93-116
Date Published
June 2010
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article discusses recent developments in domestic violence and family law in Sweden.
Abstract
Changes to the Swedish family law that came into force on July 1, 2006 aimed at introducing a more safety oriented approach to custody, contact, or residence disputes where there is also a history of domestic violence. In the 1990s, a more gender sensitive and "holistic" approach to violence in intimate relationships was introduced in Sweden. In the wake of these developments, children who see or hear violence to a parent, typically the mother, have increasingly been defined as crime victims in their own right. It is argued that these developments are also a key to understanding recent changes in family law and policy on custody, residence, or contact more broadly. A feminist framework for understanding violence in heterosexual relationships in combination with the redefinition of children who "witness" violence seems to have created a discursive opportunity structure that enables a shift in focus to violent fathers as parents, reaching into the area of family law. (Published Abstract)