HeatherDouglas, KateFitz‐Gibbon, LeighGoodmark and SandraWalklate (eds), The Criminalization of Violence Against Women: Comparative Perspectives, Oxford: OUP, 2023, 344 pp, hb £59.00

Violence against women (VAW) continues to be a global concern, with prevalence rates remaining high and a diversification in the nature and forms of abuse, afforded by advances in technology. This includes the use of communication technologies and online and social media spaces to facilitate both virtual and face-to-face harassment and abuse. This is despite a plethora of international conventions, policy and law reform initiatives all aiming to reduce incidences and improve protection and support for victim-survivors. These include the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women (the Istanbul Convention). That VAW is a human rights violation has been well-established, along with the fact that states need to do more to tackle such behaviour. While the conventions promote tackling VAW on a range of fronts, including education and awareness raising, states have tended to prioritise criminalisation. Is this, however, the most appropriate strategy to adopt? This is the question explored by Douglas and her co-editors in their edited collection. In tackling this issue, the editors define VAW to encompass intimate partner violence, forms of sexual harassment and rape and sexual violence committed by intimate partners, acquaintances and strangers. The scale of research exploring violence between intimate heterosexual partners, and that suffered by cisgender women, is noted in the introduction, but this is not to discount the high rates of violence suffered by trans women and the harms caused by state power. Indeed, it is important to acknowledge the wider social, cultural and political contexts in which VAW occurs globally. States play a role not only in sustaining VAW, but also in the perpetuation of gendered harms. The book adopts a broad understanding of criminalisation, which encompasses an exploration of specific criminal offences and the broader workings and impacts of the criminal justice process. It is noted that criminalisation ‘has been unfolding differently and in nuanced and nonlinear ways across the globe’ (3). Nevertheless, it remains the ‘primary strategy’ in most jurisdictions, despite the multitude of problems that flow from involvement with the criminal justice system. Many of these are well known and documented and explored throughout the edited collection. These include retraumatisation; victim-blaming attitudes held by criminal justice practitioners; poor levels of attrition and conviction; and the failure of the system to protect victim-survivors. Concerns have also been expressed that criminalisation only enhances state surveillance and control, but that this does little – if anything – to support and protect victim-survivors and their families. Furthermore, it is recognised that victim-survivors often have more complex justice needs than can be delivered by the criminal justice system. Additionally, there is significant disquiet regarding the ever-growing rates of incarceration and the increased criminalisation of victim-survivors, particularly amongst women and those from minority backgrounds. As Douglas et al note in the introduction, given that the harms of criminalisation are now well known, they can no longer be considered unintentional. These concerns regarding the impact of criminalisation have led in part to the emergence of a feminist critique of this turn to carceral justice (often referred to as anti-carceral feminism). This can be linked to abolitionist approaches, which agitate for a move away from state-sanctioned punitive approaches and a focus more on social justice needs and responses. And yet we see feminists and feminist-informed approaches still turning to the criminal law to provide solutions. There continues to be a continued hope or optimism that the criminal justice system – both in terms of the substantive and procedural law – and criminal justice institutions will be able to provide a solution, and that improvements can be made. It could be that this is nothing but a ‘cruel optimism’ to use Lauren Berlant's phrase from, Cruel Optimism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011). At the same time, however, it is important to acknowledge that the law will continue to play a role in women's lives, to ensure that the harms women suffer are appropriately acknowledged by the state (Clare McGlynn, ‘Challenging anti-carceral feminism: Criminalisation, justice and continuum thinking’ (2022) 93 Women's Studies International Forum 102614) and that we do not ‘cede ground to antifeminist institutions and practices’ (Vanessa Munro, Law and Politics at the Perimeter: Re-Evaluating Key Debates in Feminist Theory (Oxford: Hart, 2007) 69). Is criminalization ever an appropriate response to violence against women – and if so, when? Is criminalization effective in curtailing violence? Who bears the consequences of criminalization, and when are those consequences justified? Should we be thinking about less, rather than more, criminalization or thinking about criminalization differently? What tensions or dilemmas emerge when criminal law, family law, and social policy speak or fail to speak to each other? What role do histories of colonization play in the approach to criminalizing violence against women? (6) A comparative approach is adopted, drawing upon research from the Global North and the Global South. While it is acknowledged that policies and laws do not easily transfer across borders, it is nevertheless recognised that there is much we can learn from each other with respects to the formation, implementation and effects of criminalisation. Throughout, the book contends with the tensions, complexities and disagreements surrounding the adoption of a criminalisation agenda, exploring the issue from a range of methodological approaches, while not aiming for a consensus. The first section – ‘The Criminalization Agenda: “New” Approaches to Old Problems’ – comprises five chapters exploring the range of existing offences and the development of new offences to deal with various manifestations of VAW. The chapters incorporate a consideration of when and why a turn to the criminal law may be appropriate, recognising both the harms and benefits to victim-survivors. This includes the development and implementation of offences to deal with coercive control, drawing upon national data with victim-survivors in Australia (Chapter 1, Kate FitzGibbon and others); the criminalisation of psychological violence in Brazil (Chapter 2, Thiago Pierobom de Avila); the introduction of criminal offences to deal with technological related sexual violence, including downblousing, creepshots and image-based abuse (Chapter 3, Clare McGlynn); the development and implementation of negligent rape in Sweden (Chapter 4, Ulrika Andersson); and policy and legislative responses to domestic violence in Fiji (Chapter 5, Jojiana Cokanasiga). Chapters 1, 2 and 3, in particular, illustrate the need for the criminal law to acknowledge the specific forms of violence suffered by women and to eschew a traditional one-off, incident-based approach, which is generally recognised as being male-centric in nature. It is also noteworthy that Brazil adopts an explicitly gendered approach, having introduced a crime of psychological violence that applies exclusively to women. This sits in contrast with the insistence upon gender neutrality in England and Wales during the passage of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, in which the gendered reality of domestic violence and abuse was doubted. The second part – ‘Criminalization, Criminal Justice Challenges, and Consequences’ – explores various processes of criminalisation and the criminal justice process, by focusing on how offences work in practice. There remains a significant schism between the law in books and law in practice, with a well-known implementation gap, along with the reality that the law frequently brings about negative impacts for victim-survivors, despite well-meaning intentions. This section covers a broad range of topics and jurisdictions, including sentencing Aboriginal women who have killed their partners in Western Australia (Chapter 6, Kyllie Cripps); the impact of criminalisation on Native Women in the US via an exploration of the punishment of victim-survivors who act in self-defense (Chapter 7, Leigh Goodmark); exploring the role of the judiciary in intimate partner sexual violence, to improve the experiences of complainants in the process of giving evidence (Chapter 8, Elisabeth McDonald); the adherence to family violence policy by police in Victoria, Australia and the misidentification of victim-survivors as ‘predominant aggressors’ (Chapter 9, Ellen Reeves); an exploration regarding the criminalisation of coercive control, drawing upon interviews with police, in Scotland (Chapter 10, Michele Burman, Oona Brooks-Hay and Ruth Friskney); and the consequences of the introduction of a nonfatal strangulation offence in Queensland, Australia (Chapter 11, Heather Douglas and Robin Fitzgerald). These chapters demonstrate well the ‘cruel optimism’ of the system, due to the ways in which the law not only fails to recognise women's narratives of abuse, but also because victims are frequently punished for engaging in defensive actions. We can also see how the law engages in problematic constructions of ‘non-ideal’ victims, a process that is particularly heightened in cases involving aboriginal and native women, as explored in Chapters 6, 7 and 9. The final section – ‘Making Sense of Criminalization: Concepts, Context, Activism’ – examines some of the wider aspects and considerations relative to developing justice responses to VAW. This includes an exploration of the development and implementation of the Inter-Amercian Human Rights System and the impact of the ‘human rights penalty’ on victim-survivors (Chapter 12, Silvana Tapia Tapia); the challenges of incorporating intersectionality and vulnerability into state responses to VAW, particularly in the context of state co-option (Chapter 13, Gema Varona); the debates and challenges with regards to developing and promoting restorative justice approaches – again with a focus on the concerns pertaining to state encroachment (Chapter 14, Aparna Polavarapu); a development of the concept of ‘Bureaucratic Violence’ to recognise the harms caused by the failure of the state to adequately protect women and prevent victimisation in the context of Aceh Indonesia (Chapter 15, Balawyn Jones); and to conclude, a consideration of the development of Nari Adalats – Women's Courts – specifically in the context of police returning ‘missing women’ in India (Chapter 16, Niveditha Menon). These chapters illustrate not only the continued elusiveness of justice, but also the potential for alternative justice processes to be co-opted by the state, continuing the theme of ‘cruel optimism’. Nevertheless, a more hopeful approach is provided by the consideration of the Women's Courts in the final chapter, which offers ‘a blueprint and a methodology that can help create spaces where meaningful and active participation in justice-seeking mechanisms can take place’ (312). Taken together, the chapters in the book provide a comprehensive analysis of the range of challenges of developing criminal justice responses to VAW. The breadth of coverage is considerable, enabling the reader to develop an appreciation of the extent of the issues, the global nature of the problem, and the consistencies and divergencies that exist in numerous countries and jurisdictions. We see familiar themes emerging throughout, including concerns with respects to the recognition, construction and treatment of victim-survivors. Another key theme to mention is that of intersectionality and the importance of acknowledging how women are differentially situated, particularly when it comes to accessing justice. However, the breadth of coverage comes at a cost in terms of depth of analysis and detail each chapter is able to provide. I often found myself wanting to know more, particularly when it came to some of the empirical studies. But the reader is of course at liberty to engage in wider research, and the reference lists at the end of each chapter are of some use in this regard. The overall objective of the book is to ‘advance the evidence base on which debates surrounding the criminalization of violence against women draw globally’ (14), and this collection meets this aim well. The book brings together a diverse range of perspectives and offers insights which are nuanced and recognise the complexities involved in engaging with state processes of criminalisation. The book will be of interest to students, academics and practitioners.