NCJ Number
161171
Journal
Law and Social Inquiry Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1994) Pages: 829- 851
Date Published
1994
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article provides an overview of law reforms related to domestic assault, rape, and other forms of violence against women and introduces the journal's other six articles on the topic.
Abstract
Current research is focusing on the limitations of law reforms enacted in the past 2 decades and considering the social and cultural contexts within which laws are formulated, enforced, and interpreted. Some of the papers in this journal examine whether changes in statutes have adequately improved women's experience with violence and with the prosecution of violence cases. Their findings challenge some assumptions regarding the effectiveness of existing legal reform and reveal that changes in the law to date have not resolved some serious shortcomings of the legal system in relation to women's experiences. Through analysis of cross-cultural considerations, the paradoxes of the law's attempt to be above culture, and other aspects of the cultural and social contexts that surround legal approaches to violence, the authors demonstrate the problematic character of the assumptions on which some legal reforms have been based. They conclude that in addition to law and policy changes, substantial rethinking of institutional structures and ideologies is required to address violence against women effectively. Footnotes