ABSTRACT
The 1994 Violence Against Women Act marked a watershed in mandating criminal legal attention to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, and the co-ordination of community responses. However, most victim-survivors do not report to the police. For women who do, their experiences consistently highlight that the criminal legal system fails to deliver protection and redress. Over-reliance on the criminal legal system has long invoked concern from women of color that the harms of violence are compounded by institutional racism. Native American feminist scholar Sarah Deer has also tracked how disjunctions between federal legislation and tribal legal systems leave Native women without equitable access to justice. While problematizing reliance on the criminal legal system, this chapter reviews available data about prosecution, conviction, and attrition rates for sexual violence; and outcomes of legal reform on domestic/intimate partner violence. It reflects on the unintended consequences of mandatory arrest and explores growing momentum around restorative justice approaches. Legal frameworks on stalking, trafficking, child marriage, and female genital mutilation/cutting are also discussed.
