NCJ Number
171541
Date Published
1995
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This presentation at the Annual Conference on Criminal Justice Research & Evaluation, July 10-12, 1995, discusses the overall topic of violence against women and some of the provisions of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
Abstract
One of the major issues in any discussion of violence against women is the distinction between stranger violence and violence committed by intimates. Whereas witnesses of stranger violence frequently sympathize with the victim, witnesses of violence perpetrated against a woman by her husband or intimate partner seek to determine what she had done to cause the assault. This blaming-the-victim attitude is frequently also the response of law enforcement officers. Even in cases of violence committed by strangers, the female victim is frequently asked to justify why she was jogging after dark, or in a particular area, or wearing certain types of clothing, etc. Women have had to adjust downward their expectations of daily life, to live within limits dictated by their fear of violence. The Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services have formed a joint Advisory Council to support partnerships with the private sector and with other Federal agencies to develop and study effective prevention, intervention and treatment strategies to combat the many forms of violence against women.