Unintended Consequences of Domestic Violence Law

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

   PDF

2. Introduction: The Problem in Context

   • Heather Nancarrow

   Pages 1-30

3. Conceptualising Domestic Violence

   • Heather Nancarrow

   Pages 31-60

4. Gendered Aspirations in Domestic Violence Law

   • Heather Nancarrow

   Pages 61-89

5. Sex and Race Differences in Law’s Application

   • Heather Nancarrow

   Pages 91-137

6. Explanations of Indigenous Violence and Recidivism

   • Heather Nancarrow

   Pages 139-155

7. Reconceptualising Typologies of Violence

   • Heather Nancarrow

   Pages 157-186

8. Gendered and Racialised Power and the Law

   • Heather Nancarrow

   Pages 187-214

9. Conclusions and Implications

   • Heather Nancarrow

   Pages 215-232

10. Back Matter

    Pages 233-245

    PDF

This book addresses the intersection of two current major concerns in Australia: law and justice responses to domestic violence - including harsher punitive measures - and the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in the criminal justice system, which are similar concerns in New Zealand, Canada and the US. Nancarrow re-conceptualises typologies of violence and provides a means of understanding and explaining female use of violence without undermining the hard-won gains of the women’s movement. It does, however, argue for a paradigm shift, which has implications for every aspect of the system we have built to stop men’s violence against women (law, police policy and practice, counselling and advocacy for victims, and interventions for those who perpetrate violence). The book is based on quantitative and qualitative research and explores the nature of Indigenous intimate partner violence and the types of violence that domestic violence law sought to address.

• indigenous
• aboriginal
• intimate abuse
• race
• race and gender
• typologies of violence
• violence against women
• law, policy and practice
• policing
• social harms
• criminal justice
• ethnicity, class, gender and crime
• violence and crime

“Heather Nancarrow's book should be required reading for anyone wanting to work in the domestic and family violence space. She demonstrates conclusively that mainstream domestic violence law, and the law and order approach, has failed the most victimised section of Australian society, Aboriginal women. Nancarrow’s meticulously crafted research shows that laws ostensibly designed to protect women are being used against them and that the peculiar alliance between white feminists and conservative governments has had the unintended consequences of strengthening patriarchal state power over women. Nancarrow demands a paradigm shift in the way we construct interventions for Aboriginal women that acknowledge the damage inflicted by colonisation and works to create genuine partnerships with them. This is an outstanding book, destined to become an indispensable source” (Dr Harry Blagg, Professor of Criminology, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Peoples and Community Justice)

• ANROWS , Sydney, Australia

  Heather Nancarrow

Heather Nancarrow is Chief Executive Officer of Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS). She has 35 years’ experience in research, policy and practice in the violence against women field, including extensive work with Indigenous Australian communities, whose experiences of violence and the criminal justice system feature in this book. She completed her PhD at Griffith University, Australia. 

Policies and ethics