Civil, Constitutional and Criminal Justice Responses to Female Partner Abuse: Proposals for Reform

Authors

• Mark Anthony Drumbl, Washington and Lee University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Note

Publication Title

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Publication Date

1994

Abstract

Female partner abuse -- the battering inflicted by heterosexual men upon their wives, common-law spouses and intimate partners -- is a pervasive phenomenon in North American society. Through a comparative analysis of the responses to female partner abuse in Buffalo (New York), Toronto and London (Ontario) this paper demonstrates that pro-arrest policing policies have a vital role in curbing conjugal violence. Nevertheless, any truly effective response to female partner abuse must link the criminal justice system with other areas of the law as well as community services. With this interdisciplinary approach as a governing paradigm, several reforms are proposed. These include: (1) amending the Criminal Code to create a series of provisions that would punish female partner abuse in a manner different than stranger assault, with special emphasis on therapy as a key element of sentencing policy; (2) reducing the weight given to provocation and drunkenness as mitigating factors; (3) introducing a statutory civil remedy similar to that found in New York State with which battered women can expediently obtain protection orders and compensation; (4) placing law enforcement officials under a statutory duty of care to protect potential victims by responsibly issuing and adequately enforcing protection orders. The possibility of developing separate courtrooms with sui generis trial procedures in which all cases involving violence against women would be heard should also be investigated. Victims should also be permitted to participate more actively in the sentencing process. The animus for these reforms is derived from the fact that the gendered nature of domestic violence perpetuates the systemic inequality of women within Canadian society.

Recommended Citation

Mark Anthony Drumbl, Civil, Constitutional and Criminal Justice Responses to Female Partner Abuse: Proposals for Reform, 12 Can. J. Fam. L. 115 (1994).