ABSTRACT
Criminal law has long been looked to as a primary intervention to secure justice and safety for victim/survivors of violence against women. In recent years, however, the degree to which the resort to law has delivered on the objectives of those campaigning for justice and safety has been brought into question. This chapter critically examines recent debates surrounding gender and the law with a specific focus on criminal law responses to different forms of violence against women. To do so, it examines the male-centric nature of criminal law: both its processes and outcomes, as well as recent reform debates and activity that have sought to overcome the gendered injustice of the law through reform of existing legal categories. This chapter also examines the introduction of new stand-alone criminal offences as well as the more recent move away from criminal law and towards decriminalisation. The chapter concludes by highlighting ongoing tensions in criminal law’s relationship with gender and limits in its response to gender-based violence, calling on the need for a rigorous reconsideration of the role of law and the need for evidence-based practice.
