NCJ Number
222887
Journal
Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma Volume: 15 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2007 Pages: 95-121
Date Published
2007
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the experiences of African-American women victim-defendants who are arrested for intimate partner violence (IPV).
Abstract
After decades of research, investigators have documented the presence of IPV across ethnic and socioeconomic groups. It has also been shown that the economic and social marginalization of African-American women is associated with elevated rates of both IPV victimization and perpetration. As a result of the frequency and severity of violence in their lives, African-American women have the propensity to use aggression to protect themselves and their children or in retaliation against intimate abusers. Consequently, a disproportionate number of African-American women may be categorized as mutual combatants, or even primary aggressors, and later arrested. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of African-American victim-defendants. It begins by presenting an integration of both the family violence gender symmetry perspective and the contextual perspective to review the literature on African-American women’s use of violence within heterosexual relationships, and introduce the concept of bidirectional asymmetric violence as a result of that integration. It then explores possible factors that may contribute to African-American women’s overrepresentation in the legal system. The paper then describes the experiences of one African-American female victim who was arrested after using physical aggression to defend herself against an abusive boyfriend. Lastly, strategies for advocacy and intervention are offered. References