ABSTRACT

When criminal justice agencies conceptualise an improved legal response to domestic violence this often means to them, more arrests, more prosecutions and more convictions. Even on their measures of success the criminal justice response to domestic violence is not always effective. Viewed from the victim’s perspective the criminal justice response to domestic violence is sometimes completely at odds with their expectations, and on occasions can be counter productive in the victim’s search for a solution to make them feel safer. Likewise the civil justice system frequently fails to deliver what victims of domestic violence want and need to ensure their safety and that of any children affected by the violence. In this chapter the perspectives of victims of domestic violence on the response that they receive from the legal system will be examined. The legal system cannot be totally driven by victims’ perspectives and account must also be taken of perpetrators’ perspectives, not least in terms of how effective they feel various interventions are in achieving particular outcomes.