Mythic History of Expansive Criminalization of Domestic Violence
Expansive criminalization of domestic violence is historically distinctive not for the actions it criminalizes, but for the civil liberties it abrogates.
Expansive criminalization of domestic violence is historically distinctive not for the actions it criminalizes, but for the civil liberties it abrogates.
The best data show men are victims in 42% of serious domestic violence victimizations. Claims that men are 15% or less of victims shouldn’t be credible.
Differences in charging practices and disposition of cases other than through plea-bargains or dismissal significantly affect court statistics.
Some sources for online texts of U.S. court decisions: opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court search for individual state court websites Google Scholar Legal Information Institute of Cornell University Justia FindLaw
Civil harassment restraining orders, limited to non-domestic restraining orders, are much less significant than domestic-violence restraining orders.
Roughly a third of domestic violence arrests generate at least an initial restraining order as part of the criminal proceeding.
Domestic-violence restraining orders are a major state-imposed restriction on personal communication with persons’ children and intimate partners.
The power and control of domestic violence expertise in child custody evaluations is a democratic failure that impedes progressive enlightenment.
Mutual restraining orders reflect the collision between discursive gender-stereotyping of domestic violence and the reality of mutual domestic violence.
The response to Harvard Law Prof. Jeannie Suk’s 2009 book, At Home in the Law, illustrates the dangerousness of domestic violence in public discourse.