Legal redress can play a critical role in interrupting the pattern of domination and control inherent in intimate partner violence (IPV), yet it remains an infrequent strategy among battered women. The current study employed a contextual framework for investigating the correlates for engagement in the criminal justice system for a sample of 227 sheltered battered women. Results indicated that individual, relational, and system-level factors were all associated with two legal help-seeking behaviors: having a civil protection order and criminal prosecution. In particular, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, social support, and prior experience with police officers were significant correlates for legal help-seeking. Results highlight the need for a coordinated community response to IPV, addressing both legal needs and psychological needs simultaneously.
Keywordsintimate partner violence; criminal justice system; PTSD Battered women often engage the criminal justice system as one strategy to help them control the abuse and protect themselves and their children. Legal help-seeking strategies are varied and can include calling the police, filing a petition for a civil protection order (CPO), filing criminal charges, seeking assistance from legal aid, testifying against the abuser in court, and being deposed. Although battered women report that legal help-seeking strategies in general are more helpful than various individual attempts to manage abuse such as placating and resisting the abuser (Goodman, Dutton, Weinfurt, & Cook, 2003), it remains an infrequent strategy, with estimates suggesting only 62% of all intimate partner violence (IPV) incidents were reported to police between 2004-2005 (U.S. Department of Justice, 2007). Moreover, low arrest rates of batterers have been well documented in the extant literature (Erez, 2002), and it has been suggested that less than 10% of IPV cases are ever prosecuted (Jordan, 2004).Criminal justice interventions can have both therapeutic and antitherapeutic effects for battered women. In addition to providing temporary safety, legal intervention validates a victim's right to be free from personal violence, sends the message that domestic violence is criminal, informs victims of other services (e.g., mental health and social services), and enhances feelings of empowerment and liberation (Erez, 1999;Erez & Belknap, 1998a;Simon, 1996). Antitherapeutic effects to criminal justice interventions, unfortunately, also exist and can include victim blaming and disparaging attitudes from service providers, which in turn Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to Dawn M. Johnson, PhD, University of Akron, Department of Psychology, 290 East Buchtel Ave., Akron, OH 44325-4301. johnsod@uakron.edu.
NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptViolence Vict. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 February 10.
Published in final edited form as:Violence Vict. 2009 ; 24(6): 771.
NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript reinforce low ...