Clinical Law Director's New Book Questions Effectiveness of Nation's Domestic Violence Laws
December 19, 2011
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Imagine a set of laws crafted to stop drunk driving. Imagine if those laws assumed that every drunk driver ended up behind the wheel of a car for exactly the same reasons, in exactly the same way, with exactly the same outcome. Imagine if the punishments associated with these laws were focused solely on the driver—those who allowed or even encouraged the impaired driver to start the car and hit the gas were not considered or held accountable in any fundamental way. From the bartender who served one too many drinks, to the college roommate or high school friends who thought it would be fine to let their wasted friend drive off into the night, context would not matter under these laws.
Whether you believe the United States is "too litigious" or not, you would have to agree that it would not take long for these legal remedies to be found wanting. No one likes a law that doesn't work.
Now imagine this same logic applied to one of the country's worst problems: domestic violence. And consider why, despite every state's yards-thick volume of laws and regulations designed to punish abusers and prevent domestic strife from spilling over into violence and psychological trauma, tens of thousands of women are subjected to unspeakable abuse every day.
In her new book, A Troubled Marriage, Leigh Goodmark, associate professor, director of clinical education and co-director of the Center on Applied Feminism at the University of Baltimore School of Law, argues strongly that the laws designed to head off abuse and punish abusers are in need of essential, top to bottom reform. Like the nightmarishly ineffective drunk-driving laws described above, our nation's laws concerning abuse are woefully inadequate for dealing with abusers or helping—sometimes even saving the lives of—those who are suffering at the hands of abusers.
Goodmark explores the legal system's response to domestic violence, analyzes its many flaws and proposes concrete solutions to change the system. Specifically, she argues for a system designed around the experience of women subjected to abuse with a reallocation of power to address their experiences, goals and needs.
For example, domestic violence laws are excessively focused on physical violence, Goodmark says; this narrow definition of abuse fails to provide protection from behaviors that are profoundly damaging, including psychological, economic, and reproductive abuse. The system uses mandatory policies that deny women subjected to abuse autonomy and agency, substituting the state's priorities for women's goals.
Goodmark's call for reform is in keeping with the anti-essentialist feminist approach to gender equality—a post-modern viewpoint that objects to universal ideas about a "women's voice" or a one-size-fits-all solution to the issue of subordination. A Troubled Marriage argues for an anti-essentialist system, which would define abuse and allocate power in a manner attentive to the experiences, goals, needs and priorities of individual women.
Two recent developments in the news, Goodmark said recently, point to a pressing need to address the status quo on domestic violence and take steps to establish more effective legal remedies: The upcoming reauthorization of the federal Violence Against Women Act, and the release of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latter's chief finding, in particular—that one in four American women has been beaten by an intimate partner—is troubling to Goodmark.
"You have to realize that nowhere near 25 percent of these women are calling the police or prosecuting, so there are a lot of women out there who must be addressing their abuse in other ways," Goodmark said. "The law is not working for them. And with the most comprehensive law of all, the Violence Against Women Act, coming up for reauthorization, it's an important time to consider what works and what doesn’t in stopping abuse and assisting women who have been abused."
Reviews of Goodmark's book are citing its clear-eyed stance and comprehensive approach to the deep-seated problem of domestic violence.
"A Troubled Marriage is powerful and spot-on in its challenges to those of us who have given over so much to the state through law and funding," said Barbara J. Hart, co-founder of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women, and the Battered Women's Justice Project. "It is a must read for everyone involved in crafting law, litigating for reforms, creating new services and assistance … and surrendering to the power of the state in so many ways."
"Goodmark's analysis highlights the possibilities and limits of law for abused women seeking justice, and proposes extra-legal remedies that will undoubtedly spark debate, but ultimately may prove appealing to the true experts on domestic violence: women who have experienced abuse," said Claire M. Renzetti, author of Feminist Criminology.
Janet Halley, the Royall Professor of Law at the Harvard School of Law and author of Split Decisions: How and Why to Take a Break from Feminism, said, "Respect for women's agency and women's strategies in and through sex and power animate this dramatic, comprehensive, immensely readable, completely new approach. Goodmark's anti-essentialist feminism is the voice of a new generation. It could change the program of legal feminism, vastly for the better."
A Troubled Marriage, published by New York University Press, is available from Amazon.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Public Affairs and the Merrick School of Business.