NCJ Number
176522
Journal
Hofstra Law Review Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Dated: Summer 1993 Pages: 1243-1293
Date Published
1993
Length
51 pages
Annotation
This article examines the value of narratives in both clarifying legal issues and persuading legal decision-makers to reform the law.
Abstract
The article begins with a brief examination of the impact of law reform campaigns of the last 25 years aimed at eliminating race and gender discrimination. Many of the law reform efforts have failed to produce the full measure of positive change, in part because of the deficiencies in the legal discourse surrounding the process of achieving legal change. The article then examines the legal story's potential as a key element in social change strategy by exploring the specific role it has played in domestic violence law reform. Issues surrounding domestic violence are critically linked to the oppression of women. Freedom and equality for women can never be achieved without freedom from violence. Domestic violence is also an issue where the legal system's failure to respond effectively seems directly linked to the inability of the predominantly male decisionmakers to understand the victim's need for protection. It is, therefore, an issue where legal storytelling can help create the kind of empathic understanding needed to produce meaningful reform. Notes