Policing ‘Domestic’ Violence

Women, the Law and the State

Violence in the home, particularly assault by a man on his wife or girlfriend, is an everyday phenomenon. What should the police and law courts do about it? In this book first published in 1989 the author draws upon her research into their actual responses to address the practical and theoretical issues for criminology and feminism.

Violence in the home, particularly assault by a man on his wife or girlfriend, is an everyday phenomenon. What should the police and law courts do about it? In Policing Domestic Violence, first published in 1989, reissued here with a new preface, Susan Edwards draws upon her extensive research into their actual responses, both before and after recent initiatives towards reform at the time, to address the practical and theoretical issues for criminology and feminism.

Examining police and court practice, the author exposes the ways in which the patriarchal ide