NCJ Number
81327
Journal
Canadian Criminology Forum Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1981) Pages: 158-163
Date Published
1981
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Some implications of the symbolic criminalization of male family violence offenders ('feminist correctionalism') are considered.
Abstract
Official agencies tend to divert cases of wife-battering from the criminal justice system to family court, even if criminal proceedings could have been justified. The feminist critique of this handling of family violence charges that this is a double standard encoded in criminal and civil law that has the effect of condoning wife-battering. The belief that criminalizing family assaults will deter them cannot be justified, however. The act of a physical assault is a symptom, albeit a dangerous one, of a more pervasive marital conflict involving both parties as well as the broader conditions of family life. If prevention of family violence is the ultimate goal of intervention, then the criminalization of one symptom of the problem is not the answer. Further, such criminalization can have negative effects for the victim as well as the offender. The stigmatizing of the offender, as well as the burden of the sentence will affect the offender's employment and thus the economic security of the victim and other family members. Assault is also perpetrated by wives upon their husbands, and this would require uniform sentencing without respect to the sex of the offender. The criminalizing of the offense takes it out of the hands of the offended party, such that regardless of the desires of the victim, prosecution would have to proceed. In addition, the likely targets of such a criminalization of family assault would be members of the lower class. Other, more sensitive solutions to family violence must be sought. Notes and 15 references are listed.