Assessing Intimate Partner Violence Court Proceedings: A Study to Explore and Understand Women Victim-Survivors' Experiences in Specialist Domestic Vi

评估亲密伴侣暴力法庭诉讼程序：一项探索和了解女性受害者幸存者在专业家庭暴力中的经历的研究

• 批准号: 2444831
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Warwick
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2444831
• 关键词: Assessing; Intimate; Partner; Violence; Court

This research project is concerned with hearing the perspectives of women victim-survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) regarding Specialist Domestic Violence Courts (SDVC) in the West Midlands. Its aim is for victim-survivors to enter a court that is attentive to gender inequalities and power imbalances that underlie IPV. It will make an original contribution to the literature by analysing SDVCs using victim-survivors' perspectives and bridge the literature gap by answering the following questions: 1) How do victim-survivors characterise their experiences of the SDVC process? What are their perceptions of court personnel? How supported did they feel? 2) What are court personnel's understandings of IPV dynamics and court availability of victim support? How has the introduction of the coercive control offence impacted on attitudes? 3) To the extent needed, how best can improvement in court proceedings be achieved as measured by victim-survivors feeling supported? This project focuses on IPV perpetration by men in heterosexual relationships, employing a feminist understanding of IPV as a concept rooted in patriarchal power relations. To respond meaningfully to the crime, the gender asymmetry of IPV must form a central focus of legal processes that seek to understand and combat such behaviour. Courts have a major responsibility in tackling IPV as a gendered offence, with policymakers recognising that victims must have confidence that the justice system is fair, impartial and understands IPV dynamics. The existence of Specialist Courts indicates an attempt by governments to address the inadequacies of mainstream justice processes, seeking an improved level of expertise among dedicated practitioners and employing Independent Domestic Violence Advisers to focus on the victim's emotional needs. Yet, austerity and dwindling resources affect the quality of trained staff and challenge SDVC survival. The statutory definition of IPV in the Domestic Abuse Bill 2020 recognises that IPV encompasses not only physical but also emotional, coercive or controlling abuse. A clear understanding of the importance of coercive control is essential when approaching IPV cases; however, the judiciary requires improved understanding of this complex field. Women's Aid calls for further research to explore courtunderstandings of IPV and coercive control, reporting gender-discriminatory attitudes towards victim-survivors within the courtroom. Whilst SDVCs were designed to improve victim support and satisfaction, no research has specifically investigated how SDVCs understand coercive control and their impact on the experiences of victim-survivors - a gap that this research will fill. Methods I will observe the SDVC process through site visits and triangulate my observations with questionnaires and interviews with victim-survivors and court personnel, creating an ethnography of SDVC trials. Data analysis will highlight common and salient experiences in light of feminist discourses. The open-ended questionnaire will determine the experiences of women victim-survivors who have recent experience of West Midlands SDVCs, addressing Research Questions 1 and 3. This region is chosen for access, recognised deprivation (additional barriers to accessing support) and Wolverhampton's SDVC history (one of the first to be established in England). Questionnaire participants will be invited to discuss emerging findings in greater depth through semi-structured interviews. Whilst exploring victim-survivors' perspectives is central, it is also important to interview SDVC court personnel (both legal and community-based support workers) because they are so closely allied to the court process. Their understandings of IPV will help contextualise victim-survivors' views and answer Research Questions 2 and 3, adding to the evidence base for more effective strategies to improve policy and practice.

该研究项目关注的是听取亲密伴侣暴力的女性受害者-幸存者对西米德兰兹郡家庭暴力专门法院的看法。其目的是让受害者-幸存者进入一个关注性别不平等和权力不平衡的法院，这是IPV的基础。它将通过使用受害者-幸存者的视角分析SDVC对文献作出原创性贡献，并通过回答以下问题弥合文献空白：1）受害者-幸存者如何回顾他们在SDVC过程中的经历？他们对法院工作人员有什么看法？他们感觉得到了多大的支持？2)法院工作人员对IPV动态和法院对受害者支助的可用性有何理解？强制控制罪的引入如何影响人们的态度？3)在必要的范围内，如何以受害者-幸存者感到得到支持的程度来衡量，最大限度地改善法院诉讼程序？该项目的重点是男性在异性关系中实施的IPV，采用女权主义者对IPV的理解，将其作为一个植根于父权关系的概念。为了对这种犯罪作出有意义的反应，IPV的性别不对称必须成为寻求理解和打击这种行为的法律的进程的中心焦点。法院在将IPV作为性别犯罪处理方面负有主要责任，政策制定者认识到受害者必须相信司法系统是公平的，公正的，并了解IPV的动态。专门法院的存在表明，政府试图解决主流司法程序的不足之处，寻求提高专职从业人员的专业知识水平，并雇用独立的家庭暴力顾问，重点关注受害者的情感需求。然而，财政紧缩和资源减少影响了训练有素的工作人员的质量，并对SDVC的生存提出了挑战。《2020年家庭虐待法案》中对IPV的法定定义承认，IPV不仅包括身体虐待，还包括情感虐待、胁迫虐待或控制虐待。在处理IPV案件时，必须清楚地了解强制控制的重要性;然而，司法部门需要更好地了解这一复杂领域。妇女援助组织呼吁开展进一步研究，探讨法庭对IPV和强制控制的理解，报告法庭内对受害者-幸存者的性别歧视态度。虽然SDVC的目的是改善受害者的支持和满意度，没有研究专门调查SDVC如何理解胁迫控制及其对受害者的影响，幸存者的经验-一个空白，这项研究将填补。方法我将观察SDVC的过程中，通过现场访问和三角调查问卷和采访受害者幸存者和法院工作人员，创建一个民族志SDVC审判我的观察。数据分析将突出共同的和突出的经验，根据女权主义话语。开放式问卷将确定最近经历过西米德兰兹SDVC的女性受害者-幸存者的经历，解决研究问题1和3。选择该地区是因为该地区的准入、公认的贫困（获得支持的额外障碍）和伍尔弗汉普顿的SDVC历史（英格兰最早建立的地区之一）。将邀请问卷参与者通过半结构化访谈更深入地讨论新出现的调查结果。虽然探讨受害者-幸存者的观点很重要，但采访SDVC法院工作人员（包括法律的和社区支助工作者）也很重要，因为他们与法院程序密切相关。他们对IPV的理解将有助于将受害者-幸存者的观点置于背景中，并回答研究问题2和3，为改善政策和实践的更有效战略增加证据基础。