Kate Fitz-Gibbon

This book maps the problems and possibilities of the policies and practices designed to tackle violence against women in the domestic sphere over the last 40 years. In 2018, the United Nations declared the home the most dangerous place for women around the word, and in early April 2020, the United Nations Population Fund predicted that for every three months that government-enforced lockdowns in response to coronavirus an additional 15 million cases of domestic violence would occur worldwide. This book asks the simple yet critical question: how can governments best ensure women’s safety in the twenty-first century? Taking its title from Elizabeth Wilson’s 1983 book and her three-level approach of considering the role of social policy, the law and ideology, Fitz-Gibbon and Walklate draw on their expertise of femicide, domestic abuse and family violence to examine the salience of global and local policy and practice responses to such violence(s), and to ask timely questions about the ongoing value of the recourse to the criminal law for twenty-first century policy. Comparative in orientation, appreciative of the importance of geographical and social context, and committed to understanding the historical processes that continue to frame policy responses, this book takes a long hard look at what has and has not been achieved in relation to domestic abuse and family violence and seeks to challenge all that has come to be taken for granted in responding to such violence(s). Published in the 40th Anniversary of Elizabeth Wilson’s ground-breaking contribution, this book is destined to become a classic in its own right. It is essential reading for all those engaged in feminist criminology, gender and crime, family and domestic violence, and violence against women.

This book maps the problems and possibilities of the policies and practices designed to tackle violence against women in the domestic sphere over the last 40 years. In 2018, the United Nations declared the home the most dangerous place for women around the word, and in early April 2020, the United Nations Population Fund predicted that for every three months that government-enforced lockdowns in response to coronavirus an additional 15 million cases of domestic violence would occur worldwide. This book asks the simple yet critical question: how can governments best ensure women’s safety in the twenty-first century? Taking its title from Elizabeth Wilson’s 1983 book and her three-level approach of considering the role of social policy, the law and ideology, Fitz-Gibbon and Walklate draw on their expertise of femicide, domestic abuse and family violence to examine the salience of global and local policy and practice responses to such violence(s), and to ask timely questions about the ongoing value of the recourse to the criminal law for twenty-first century policy. Comparative in orientation, appreciative of the importance of geographical and social context, and committed to understanding the historical processes that continue to frame policy responses, this book takes a long hard look at what has and has not been achieved in relation to domestic abuse and family violence and seeks to challenge all that has come to be taken for granted in responding to such violence(s). Published in the 40th Anniversary of Elizabeth Wilson’s ground-breaking contribution, this book is destined to become a classic in its own right. It is essential reading for all those engaged in feminist criminology, gender and crime, family and domestic violence, and violence against women.

This open access book brings together leading international violence researchers to examine the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on experiences of, and responses to, domestic and family violence. In April 2020 the United Nations predicted that for every three months the COVID-19 lockdowns continued an additional 15 million cases of domestic violence would occur worldwide, termed the "shadow pandemic". Drawing on empirical work situated within an international context, this book presents evidence alongside country specific case studies to provide a global exploration of how women’s insecurity increased during this global health crisis at the same as their access to support services reduced. It provides a timely analysis of the degree to which the pandemic and associated government restrictions impacted on women’s experiences of violence with particular attention to changes in its prevalence and severity, and in system and service responses to women’shelp-seeking. In addition, the differential impacts of the pandemic in relation to the experiences of priority cohorts, including violence experienced by children and temporary migrant women is also explored. The key focus is on the nature, extent, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on service delivery, accessibility of support, and access to justice for women experiencing domestic and family violence.

Increasingly there is global attention on the prevalence of women’s deaths resulting from intimate partner violence. Campaigns such as ‘Counting Dead Women’ in Australia, the ‘Femicide Census’ in England, the Canadian Femicide Observatory, and the emergence of family violence death review teams globally, build on the work of agencies such as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation, highlighting the fatal consequences of intimate partner violence for women around the world. This book considers the need for and the steps to be taken towards creating a meaningful framework for a global index of women’s deaths from intimate partner violence. While there are global indices for deaths that relate to public violence, such as terrorism, there is to date no systematic global count of killings of women by their intimate partners. It considers the possibilities and challenges that arise in counting intimate femicide. It argues that such an exercise needs to avoid narrow empiricism and instead be part of a broader feminist political project aimed at ending violence against women. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, law, policing, and politics.

Increasingly there is global attention on the prevalence of women’s deaths resulting from intimate partner violence. Campaigns such as ‘Counting Dead Women’ in Australia, the ‘Femicide Census’ in England, the Canadian Femicide Observatory, and the emergence of family violence death review teams globally, build on the work of agencies such as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation, highlighting the fatal consequences of intimate partner violence for women around the world. This book considers the need for and the steps to be taken towards creating a meaningful framework for a global index of women’s deaths from intimate partner violence. While there are global indices for deaths that relate to public violence, such as terrorism, there is to date no systematic global count of killings of women by their intimate partners. It considers the possibilities and challenges that arise in counting intimate femicide. It argues that such an exercise needs to avoid narrow empiricism and instead be part of a broader feminist political project aimed at ending violence against women. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, law, policing, and politics.

This book examines the relationship between gender and crime and explores both the gendered nature of crime alongside the gendered nature of criminal victimisation. Covering theory, policy and practice, this new edition has been fully revised to reflect the wider changes, development and influence of gendered thinking in these areas. It brings together a range of key issues, including: Theories and concepts in feminist criminology, Gender and victimisation, Sexual and domestic violence, Male dominance in the criminal justice system, Gendered perspectives in law and criminal justice policy. New to the third edition is increased coverage of gender and crime in international perspective, particularly within the global south, and emerging concepts of risk and security. This is essential reading for advanced courses on gender and crime, women and crime, and feminist criminology.

This book examines the relationship between gender and crime and explores both the gendered nature of crime alongside the gendered nature of criminal victimisation. Covering theory, policy and practice, this new edition has been fully revised to reflect the wider changes, development and influence of gendered thinking in these areas. It brings together a range of key issues, including: Theories and concepts in feminist criminology, Gender and victimisation, Sexual and domestic violence, Male dominance in the criminal justice system, Gendered perspectives in law and criminal justice policy. New to the third edition is increased coverage of gender and crime in international perspective, particularly within the global south, and emerging concepts of risk and security. This is essential reading for advanced courses on gender and crime, women and crime, and feminist criminology.

This book critically examines the operation of the partial defence of provocation in a range of comparative international jurisdictions. Centrally concerned with conceptual questions of gender, justice and the role of denial in the criminal justice system, Fitz-Gibbon explores the divergent approaches taken to reforming the law of provocation.

This book critically examines the operation of the partial defence of provocation in a range of comparative international jurisdictions. Centrally concerned with conceptual questions of gender, justice and the role of denial in the criminal justice system, Fitz-Gibbon explores the divergent approaches taken to reforming the law of provocation.