Women, Intimate Partner Violence, and the Law

Douglas' system-wide, client-centred account provides an important set of challenges for the Australian profession practising in this field * Francesca Bartlett, Journal of Things We Like (Lots) *
The book represents best practice in terms of understanding domestic and family violence. It makes significant contributions to the literature by deepening contemporary understandings of 'coercive control' and 'separation' as scholarly concepts in the context of IPV. * Balawyn Jones, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, Law in Context *
Douglas provides a detailed, careful, informed analysis of women's/IPV survivors' experiences with the law in their help-seeking attempts to escape abusive relationships and ensure their safety and/or the safety of their children. * JENNY KORKODEILOU, Royal Holloway University of London, UK, Social and Legal Studies *
Douglas' book makes several important contributions to the ongoing discussion * Leigh Goodmark, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books *
a must-read for anyone interested in gender-based violence and the criminal justice system * A. J. Hattery, CHOICE *
We often think about law as a one-time intervention in cases of domestic violence. Heather Douglas' brilliant and insightful book shows us instead that the relationship between women subjected to abuse and the law is long-term, complicated, and ever-changing, with women trying-but rarely succeeding-to use the law to get what they need. * Leigh Goodmark, Marjorie Cook Professor of Law and Co-Director, Clinical Law Program University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law *
This book is equally heart-breaking and illuminating. The problem is not a lack of legal options, but the failure to effectively deploy them. The ability of abusers to manipulate legal systems, with devastating costs to women, is scandalous. Yet within the women's experiences are clues to a more effective legal system, which Douglas uses to good effect. Essential reading for current and future lawyers, social workers and criminologists. * Heather Nancarrow, CEO, Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS) *
Globally, millions of women turn to the law in their quest live their lives free from violence and abuse, but how useful is this in terms of non-physical abuse and coercive control? This is the central question that Heather Douglas tackles in this ambitious book. Highly recommended reading for those interested in intimate partner violence and the legal system - the book both deepens and widens our understanding of the challenges faced and the directions we need to travel to increase women's safety and freedom. * Nicole Westmarland, Director, Durham University Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse *
This critical primer to the legal and child protective system response to woman abuse comes as a User's Guide woven from narratives by over 60 women struggling to make the law work for them. A text that reads like an adventure story, the characters come to life. Getting free is arduous and time-consuming and as fraught with missteps by legal actors as it is by the persistence of abusers. With astute sensitivity to cultural minorities, Douglas provides a foundational resource that combines rich life-based evidence with indispensable detail about how legal systems do and should work. * Evan Stark, PhD MSW, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University and author of Coercive Control (Oxford, 2009) *
As lawyers and judicial officers we have a belief the law overwhelmingly can be used to 'do good' and as a society, we have made the courts a principle intervention point for women leaving domestic violence to turn to for their safety or that of their children. The book is important and illuminating for those who work in the law to step back from our day to day work and to critically analyse how the legal system can be weaponised to emotionally and financially destroy women who have experienced domestic violence. There is an obligation on all of us involved in the legal system to skill ourselves up on both identifying and responding to this insidious form of coercive and controlling violence and Douglas's work will help us do this and not naively allow our court systems to become forums for unchecked secondary abuse of victims of domestic violence. * Angela Lynch AM, CEO, Women's Legal Service, Queensland, Australia *