Special Issue "Domestic Violence Law"

Dear Colleagues,

Domestic or intimate partner violence law is a complex field covering issues ranging from criminal justice system responses to public health approaches and impacting how we legally provide protection for adults, children, family or household members, and the broader community. We are at a pivotal moment where we can look back over several decades of development of civil and criminal interventions and consider what is working and where additional or different legal approaches may be necessary. There is an increasing body of work covering the impact of IPV on children and the effects of trauma: How should family and criminal law incorporate this research? How do legal systems that protect the parent–child relationship provide for accountability and pretention when children are at risk? We also know victims face significant challenges in civil and criminal court proceedings. How can courts, advocates, and attorneys increase access to appropriate remedies? What can legal systems do to improve processes and procedures? While men are more likely than women to perpetrate IPV, gender and other biases create inconsistent outcomes in court cases and with law enforcement responses. We also have more experience with promising practices, including coordinated community responses, yet implementation had been limited. What role should other entities such as employers, medical professionals, schools, and community-based organizations be expected to play, and should the law mandate or guide their involvement in addressing the global problem of IPV?

This Special Issue intends to cover current issues in IPV, including family violence, and the current challenges and recent developments in the legal community addressing violence and abuse. We welcome contributions in these areas, including research, theoretical, policy, and practice-based articles. More specifically, contributions in the following areas are sought:

• The relevance of gender in IPV;
• Developing legal approaches addressing coercive control;
• Challenges victims/survivors face navigating the civil or criminal justice process;
• Intersections of race, gender, class, LGBTQ+ identity, disability, age and other characteristics with experiences of partner or family violence;
• Mandated reporting of abuse;
• The role of firearms and related prohibitions/restrictions in IPV;
• Innovative legal system responses/approaches.

Adjunct Prof. Julia F. Weber
Guest Editor

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