Ruth Lewis

Abstract: Changing Violent Men is based on the evaluation of British criminal justice responses and treatment programmes for men who use violence against a woman partner. Court enforced abuser programmes are compared with more traditional sanctions such as fines and probation. Qualitative and quantitative data are used to delineate patterns of personal change and to allow the men and women involved to speak about their lives and the impact of criminal justice interventions upon them.

Abstract: The authors seek to contribute to a fuller understanding of men's violence against women in intimate relationships by comparing men's and women's accounts of the violence, injuries, and controlling behavior used by men against women partners. Although men and women inhabit a shared physical and social space within the home, their lived experiences and perceptions of such relationships often differ. Despite this, many studies do not consider what effect such gender differences might have on accounts of violence against women and, instead, assume that men's and women's accounts are basically unproblematic. The authors ask whether this is so. Based on findings from an in-depth interview study of 122 men who had perpetrated violence against a woman partner and 144 women who had been the victims of such violence, the results show that women and men provide significantly different accounts of men's violence, controlling behavior, and injuries. These results make problematic the assumption that men's accounts of...

Abstract: The Murder in Britain Study was designed to examine in detail different types of murder. Using a subset of case files from this study, men who murder other men (MM;n = 424) are compared with men who murder an intimate partner (IP;n = 106) to reflect on the relative conventionality of each group. In terms of many of the characteristics of childhood and adulthood, the IP murder group differs from theMMgroup and appears to be more “ordinary” or “conventional.” However, the IP group is less conventional in that they are more likely to have intimate relationships that had broken down, to have used violence against a previous woman partner as well as against the victim they killed, and to “ specialize” in violence against women.

Abstract: Based on interviews with 122 men who had used violence against their partner, and employing Goffman's (1971) concept of `remedial work', this paper interrogates violent men's perceptions, constructions and understandings of domestic violence and their responses to its use. Accounts of women partners are also examined. `Remedial work' involves the perpetrator of an act of untoward behaviour in various forms of `damage limitation' intended to change the meaning of the offensive act into one that is deemed acceptable. Goffman's three related devices of remedial work - `accounts, apologies, and requests' - are used to explore men's narratives of violent events, their definitions of the event, rationales and perceptions of consequences. Revealed are the exculpatory and expiatory discourses which dominate men's narratives and which expose the purposeful yet paradoxical nature of their responses to violence, directed at mitigating and obfuscating culpability while at the same time seeking forgiveness and absolution. We suggest that through these devices men seek to impose their own definitions upon their woman partner and thereby neutralise or eradicate her experience of abuse and control the ways in which she interprets and responds to it. These findings strongly support Goffman's theoretical conception. In addition, they highlight the need for further investigation of how men's and women's accounts, definitions and responses to violence are interactionally connected through men's attempts to define the violence in exculpatory and expiatory terms and in women's resistance to such definitions and their implications.

Abstract: Can the law be usefully employed to help women who experience domestic violence achieve 'justice'? This question has been at the heart of debates about domestic violence over the last few decades. In this paper, we review the positions of those who cautiously welcome engagement with the law - 'feminist realists', arrest studies researchers, 'sceptical reformers' and rehabilitation proponents - and those who see no value in legal intervention - 'abstentionists' and 'community justice' proponents. We argue that such pessimism is both theoretically misguided and empirically unsubstantiated and reflects the lack of cross-fertilization amongst writers from these various positions. In contrast to traditional research in this area, we argue that effective contributions to debates should address both women's and men's experiences of the justice system, should examine the process as well as outcome of legal intervention and should recognise women as survivors engaged in a process of 'active negotiation and strateg...

Abstract: Introduction 1. Woman's Place in Man's Life Cycle 2. Images of Relationship 3. Concepts of Self and Morality 4. Crisis and Transition 5. Women's Rights and Women's Judgment 6. Visions of Maturity References Index of Study Participants General Index

Abstract: A sweeping examination of the core issues of sexual politics, bell hook's new book Feminist Theory: from margin to center argues that the contemporary feminist movement must establish a new direction for the 1980s. Continuing the debates surrounding her controversial first book, Ain't I A Woman, bell hooks suggests that feminists have not succeeded in creating a mass movem A sweeping examination of the core issues of sexual politics, bell hook's new book Feminist Theory: from margin to center argues that the contemporary feminist movement must establish a new direction for the 1980s. Continuing the debates surrounding her controversial first book, Ain't I A Woman, bell hooks suggests that feminists have not succeeded in creating a mass movement against sexist oppression because the very foundation of women's liberation has, until now, not accounted for the complexity and diversity of female experience.

Abstract: This meta-analytic review examines the findings of 22 studies evaluating treatment efficacy for domestically violent males. The outcome literature of controlled quasi-experimental and experimental studies was reviewed to test the relative impact of Duluth model, cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT), and other types of treatment on subsequent recidivism of violence. Study design and type of treatment were tested as moderators. Treatment design tended to have a small influence on effect size. There were no differences in effect sizes in comparing Duluth model vs. CBT-type interventions. Overall, effects due to treatment were in the small range, meaning that the current interventions have a minimal impact on reducing recidivism beyond the effect of being arrested. Analogies to treatment for other populations are presented for comparison. Implications for policy decisions and future research are discussed.