Abstract
‘I will make your death look like an accident’, ‘your body can end up in a barrel’, ‘you know that I am going to get you eventually’: these are some of the threats uttered by abusers as shared by intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors in Heather Douglas’ book. In her book Douglas makes a consistent and commendable effort to convey a clear message: IPV consists of a wide range of different types of abuse (including physical) and that, while coercive control is a core component of IPV dynamics, it is often unacknowledged, missed or downplayed by key criminal justice actors, stakeholders and agencies (see Barlow and Walklate, 2021). Similar experiences of interpersonal abuse have been previously documented in stalking-related research, in the UK and USA, with victims articulating terror, disrespect, barriers and trauma(s) during their pursuit, their engagement with the law and criminal justice system, how these experiences compounded trauma and significantly impacted their journey to recovery (Brewster, 2003; Korkodeilou, 2020). These shared similarities arguably demonstrate the problematic nature of almost exclusively addressing domestic and interpersonal violence through traditional courtroom models, gendered and patriarchal socio-legal order and (adversarial) criminal justice system channels (Goodmark, 2018). This is a point that could have been more strongly illustrated and supported in the book, especially given the socio-legal background of the author. Having said that though, overall, 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. It is evident throughout that she is genuinely interested in the topic: she engages with multi-layered, challenging histories of abuse with attention, professional rigour and integrity. An experienced legal scholar in the field, Douglas competently examines key themes emerging from IPV survivors’ accounts, linking them to legislation, literature and intertwining them with women's own words. And this is indeed the key strength of the book: the honesty and respect with which she handles women's accounts, staying true to their interpretations and thus delivering a monograph true to its purpose.
The book is structured into 10 chapters which are based on the main themes emerging from Douglas' research study. In Chapter 1 (‘Introduction’) she explains the rationale and content of the study on which the book is based and problematises themes such as the conditionality of separation, the power dynamics underpinning IPV, the re-traumatising experience of protracted litigation, the use of legal processes by perpetrators as another vehicle for extending abuse, and the tenacity and resistance displayed by women against all odds, and despite the hostile, combative, and traumatising nature of the adversarial legal processes.
In Chapter 2 Douglas provides a detailed and thoughtful explanation of the parameters of her study and the rationale of the methodology she opted for. She carried out a series of structured/semi-structured interviews with 65 women who have experienced IPV and engaged with the law, over the course of 3 years in Queensland, Australia. She delineates key terms and definitions employed in her study and confers a candid account of her standpoint as a researcher and potential biases. She outlines the key issues and challenges she tried to navigate during fieldwork such as participants’ withdrawal, inability to follow-up cases, duty of care, building up and maintaining good rapport. In Chapter 3 she describes the complexities governing IPV through the often insightful accounts of participants. The discussion is premised on Evan Stark’s (2007) conceptualisation of IPV as a ‘coercive control’ pattern of behaviour which aims at creating ‘conditions of unfreedom’ via a plethora of power and control tactics. These tactics comprise emotional abuse (strategically selected vocabulary stemming from prior knowledge perpetrators hold in relation to their victims), isolation (depriving victims of support networks), financial abuse and deceit (control of expenses, putting them into debt), stalking (elements of harassment, threats and intimidation), non-fatal strangulation, gaslighting, visa statuses’ threats and sexual coercion. Phrases such as ‘I was caged’ and ‘not allowed outside the house and out of his sight’ strongly indicate that abusers aim at debilitating women through fear and ultimately depriving them of their autonomy and freedoms.
In Chapter 4 the author chronicles women's engagement with different legal processes focusing on those with insecure migration status and Aboriginal women. The focal notion is that abuse does not always cease after separation and that abusers often use courtroom as another arena to further extend and exert control over their victims. Participants’ words such as ‘fight’, ‘hunting ground’ or ‘battle’ unambiguously reflect and capture the warfare character of legal proceedings when misused in cross-protection orders’ litigation. In the same line, in Chapter 5 she refers to the false allegations often made by abusive former partners as another tactic of manipulation and control. Women describe how their safety is compromised by institutional bureaucracies, the conflicting expectations and lack of coordination between different legal systems (criminal law, child protection, family law) and the multiple ways this exacerbates the trauma of abuse. This is especially pertinent to Aboriginal women who seem to be commonly disadvantaged and treated with scepticism and distrust by the Australian mainstream criminal justice system and social services in the context of colonialism and related marginalisation.
In chapters 6, 7 and 8 Douglas delves into the interplay between separation, law and IPV women's experiences. To begin with, in Chapter 6 she identifies the lack of understanding often displayed by police officers regarding IPV and its coercive abuse aspects. This lack of understanding often results in not charging breaches of protection orders (treating them as ‘soft breaches’ and therefore insignificant) and prioritising fathers’ relationship with their children. Douglas suggests a range of remedies here such as setting up women's police stations that could address the specific needs of women subjected to interpersonal violence. In chapter 7 Douglas sheds detailed light into the experiences of IPV survivors with lawyers: she considers in detail the difficulties women experience in gaining access to and retaining state-funded legal aid due to the high threshold of eligibility and the extremely high costs of legal fees for hiring private lawyers. In many cases women are forced to employ a number of manoeuvres and strategies such as maintaining low income status or ‘unbundling’ legal services in order to gain some kind of access to legal aid but even then they find the quality of legal advice and provision dubious, limited and inconsistent. As a result they are often pressured into either represent themselves which entails a significant amount of time and can jeopardise the outcome or settle the cases quickly and unsafely by withdrawing or compromising on issues of property, children visitations, and parental custody. The author effectively demonstrates via women's narratives that the extension of legal proceedings is purposefully used by abusers as another coercive control tactic of manipulation, intimidation and control often leading women into debt and poverty which in turn enhances their vulnerability, damages their financial well-being irrevocably and sabotages their independence and quality of life. In other words, courts are used as another weapon and become a ‘dead end’ for women who seek legal redress, cannot avoid engaging with the law, want to move on and rebuild their lives. The sheer length of legal system processes, the associated costs and the often inappropriate behaviour by abusers’ legal representatives can give rise, augment and exacerbate severe emotional and financial traumas leading victims to despair. At this point Douglas points out at lawyers’ training on IPV as a potential remedy and importantly their training on ethical (I would also add moral) responsibility. I keep wondering though the extent to which ethos or moral liability can be taught? Which, if any, are the avenues through which moralising the law is feasible or practical?
Ethical responsibility should constitute a central prerequisite in relation to judges’ decision-making approach and attitudes in the protection orders’ domain and family law systems. Chapter 8 offers a comprehensive but bleak and disappointingly familiar description of the key issues women experience in courts: a persistent failure by judges to understand that abuse continues after separation and recognise the dynamics and pattern of coercive control including veiled threats or using the legal system to take revenge and continue abuse. Instead, there is a short-sighted emphasis on physical violence, minimisation of stalking-related behaviours, aligning with the abuser and therefore discrediting and dismissing women's stories. Women's narratives reveal the ways family law judges seem to be biased towards fathers prioritising the latter's rights to contact the child despite evidence of domestic violence history and safety risks. What is particularly alarming is the fact that in many cases women felt they were blamed for applying or re-applying for protection orders to stop or reduce abuse and harassment as well as the lack of preparation and knowledge of the cases by the judicial officers which in turn reflects disrespect and lack of compassion towards the abused. These sentiments are reflected by women who in several occasions heard judges commenting in a, in my view, ignorant, misogynistic and sexist manner: ‘is this another pushing and shoving case?’, or ‘he seems like a nice gentleman and a man of his word…give them another chance’. Again, Douglas moves on suggesting coordinated legal systems, mandatory induction courses and training for judges on the coercive control dynamics of IPV and the use of courts as another tactic of abuse that in essence enables perpetrators to increase pressure, trauma and evade responsibility. Perhaps empathetic listening, and common sense should also be required for criminal justice professionals when dealing with cases of domestic violence and interpersonal coercion.
In Chapter 9 Douglas focuses on separation as a dynamic process, a non-linear journey rather than a one-off incident stressing the often ensuing post-separation risks (e.g., femicides). She reiterates what we already know: involvement with the legal systems can accentuate abuse and increase dangers leading to intense harassment and stalking as retribution for victims resorting to law. The decision of women to stay, leave or return is constrained and depends on a variety of factors such as socio-economic pressures, fear and safety concerns, lack of support, and the hope that the situation will improve. This last ‘hope’ should be considered in the context of cycle of violence where women develop emotional ties, and become entrapped in controlling relationships under the lingering threat of the abuser retaliating, taking children's custody or removing visas and having them deported. Douglas recommends that IPV victims should be provided with more employment options, financial support, child care and public housing that will allow them to exit abuse and more comfortably navigate post-separation process. She rightly maintains that separation should not be a criterion of credibility or a decisive factor in assessing the value and trustworthiness of a woman's claim for legal support.
In Chapter 10 Douglas gathers key points concluding that although IPV survivors end up exhausted and re-traumatised via the exploitation of legal system processes by perpetrators, they remain defiant, resilient, and determined to ensure their safety, find their way out of abuse and towards growth. In her recommendations, the author reiterates the need for respectful justice actors who understand the dynamics of IPV via updated training and by adopting a holistic, strengths-based approach. She stresses the need to make courts safe spaces (e.g., online courts, witness protection options, etc.) and ensure that victims regain power and control over their lives and eventually their freedom, freedom from violence.
Taking a final look, it could be argued that, whilst Douglas gives voice to her otherwise unseen research participants, her analysis lacks a strong theoretical, contextual narrative. She makes some brief references in the first few chapters to feminist thinking by mentioning Carol Smart's scepticism in using law as a tool in tackling violence against women but this could have been built into the chapters and expanded into a critically informed discussion anchored and guided by a specific feminist theoretical framework. A further, more sustained focus on how colonialism (colonial populism), race (whiteness), social class and gendered inequalities and violence play out and intersect in contemporary Australian socio-political context may also have been useful in locating and understanding survivors’ accounts within global regimes of gendered politics and citizenship (see Sawer, 1990; Collier and Raney, 2018). In the same line, she could have provided critical reflections on the gendered underpinnings of the legal system and implications of her research; this would have made her account more academically solid and sophisticated. These criticisms do not, of course, reduce the value of the book; they point out at how the text could have been perhaps more effectively positioned within current socio-legal scholarship and feminist politics.
One survivor bitterly states in the book: ‘No one's listening’. I believe it is a matter of principle to listen to IPV survivors, and if not transform at least try to improve socio-legal provisions. We, criminal justice professionals and scholars in interpersonal violence, should remain committed to that end. In all fairness, Douglas does that for years now and her book helps towards that direction.
