Decriminalizing Domestic Violence

DecriminalizingDomesticViolenceasks the crucial, yet often overlooked, question of why and how the criminal legal system became the primary response to intimate partnerviolencein the United States. It introduces readers, both new and well versed in the subject, to the ways in which the criminal legal system harms rather than helps those who are subjected to abuse andviolencein their homes and communities, and shares how it drives, rather than deters, intimate partnerviolence. The book examines how social, legal, and financial resources are diverted into a criminal legal apparatus that is often unable to deliver justice or safety to victims or to prevent intimate partnerviolencein the first place. Envisioned for both courses and research topics indomestic violence, familyviolence, gender and law, and sociology of law, the book challenges readers to understand intimate partnerviolencenot solely, or even primarily, as a criminal law concern but as an economic, public health, community, and human rights problem. It also argues that only by viewing intimate partnerviolencethrough these lenses can we develop a balanced policy agenda for addressing it. At a moment when we are examining our national addiction to punishment, Decriminalizing Domestic Violence offers a thoughtful, pragmatic roadmap to real reform.