Introduction

In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the problem of institutional violence. They discuss what their mean by institutional violence, the ways in which institutional violence has been treated in scholarly literature so far, and why authors believe institutional violence is a pressing social issue. The authors also provide an overview of the history of disability and institutionalization, with particular focus on Canadian history, and making connections to similar histories in both the United States and the United Kingdom. They focus on their own work and describe the methods and data authors use to make their arguments. The highly interdisciplinary work draws from multiple forms of data, including case law, oral history, and ethnographic observation; and multiple forms of analysis, including legal and discourse analysis, to thoroughly engage the topic at hand. The authors also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.