Women's Experience of Violence and Protection (From Policing 'Domestic' Violence: Women, the Law and the State, P 153-185, 1989, Susan S M Edwards -- See NCJ-121616)

• NCJ Number: 121621
• Author(s): S S M Edwards
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 33 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Victimization surveys conducted by women on women in response to problems encountered in the British Crime Survey reveal that over half of the respondents have experienced some form of threatening, violent, or sexually-harassing behavior and that most women have a strong fear of crime.

Abstract

Personal experiences of women suffering from physical and mental abuse from spouses or lovers is detailed. The civil and criminal law require evidence of physical abuse, and courts will not consider injunctions for non-molestation or exclusion without proof of physical violence. Many psychologists blame women who stay in violent relationships and consider them to be contributing to their own misery. Some women researchers in family rescue programs in Great Britain, such as Erin Pizzey, have noted that battered women victims are often participants in and encourage violent behavior directed at themselves. Police are reluctant to intervene in domestic violence, and women who retaliate against their attackers and take the law into their own hands are not treated with sympathy in court. Despite the findings of victimization surveys, little has been done to clarify the problems of spousal violence and its consequences for women.