ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights critical criminologists' contributions to some of the most important issues and debates within the field of woman abuse. It addresses research on sexual violence in intimate partnerships; the debate about women's use of violence; mandatory arrest; and the need for better responses to particularly atrisk populations, including women of color, and rural women. The chapter focuses on woman abuse in intimate relationships. The critical research on woman abuse is interdisciplinary, sociology, criminology, and women's studies to understanding of the implications of the numbers on the lived reality of women and girls worldwide. As critical criminologists have repeatedly argued, the sheer volume of violence against women challenges the assumption that women and girls rarely experience violence. Historically, police tended to be reluctant to make arrests in domestic disputes and treated domestic violence as a private matter that should be ignored by the criminal justice system.
