Systemic Obstacles to Battered Women's Participation in the Judicial System When Will the Status Quo Change?

• Published in: Violence against women Vol. 12; no. 12; pp. 1150 - 1168
• Main Authors: Gillis, Joseph Roy, Diamond, Shaindl Lin, Jebely, Paul, Orekhovsky, Victoria, Ostovich, Ellis M., MacIsaac, Kristin, Sagrati, Sandra, Mandell, Deborah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.12.2006; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adult; Battered Women; Battered Women - legislation & jurisprudence; Battered Women - psychology; Canada; Constraints; Criminal justice; Domestic violence; Female; Focus Groups; Humans; Immigrants; Interpersonal Relations; Judicial process; Legal System; Middle Aged; Narration; Ontario; Police; Public Policy; Social Responsibility; Socioeconomic Factors; Spouse Abuse - legislation & jurisprudence; Spouse Abuse - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Women; Women's Rights - legislation & jurisprudence; Ontario; Canada; immigrantwomen; domesticviolence; legal-judicialsystem
• ISSN: 1077-8012; 1552-8448
• DOI: 10.1177/1077801206293500

The Canadian government has introduced numerous policies, guidelines, and mandates at the federal and provincial levels that recognize woman abuse as a serious social problem and violation of the law. Nonetheless, recent feminist research continues to expose laws and practices that fail woman abuse victims. The present study examined the experiences of women victims in domestic violence cases and the barriers they faced in dealing with the police, the courts, and social service agencies. Despite government initiatives, the study results corroborate previous findings indicating that many battered women feel further traumatized by ambivalent or discriminatory attitudes and practices prevalent within the system.