Product Description
This book paints an overall picture of how domestic violence is being dealt with today and how contemporary concerns about service-user participation in improving services can be put into real and lasting effect. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an honest and insightful discussion of domestic violence from the perspective of a police officer who has experienced it in his home and encountered it professionally. Davis, a sociologist as well, uses his dual background to demonstrate that current treatment of domestic violence abuses is ineffective. A must read for all police officers, criminologists, and citizens who care about finding a successful solution to this issue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good overview
A good overview of the issues around domestic violence from the view point of a police officer.

Agree that criminal justice system is no panacea
As the former Executive Director of an agency that provides batterer intervention services to men arrested for domestic violence, this book comes as a refreshing statement.I wholly subscribe to his thesis that thecriminal justice system, especially in Massachustts where Richard Davis andI both have worked, does not provide the panacea in solving domesticviolence.The criminal justice system, as Richard Davis asserts, does haveits place, but there is the need for greater attention and resources to gointo prevention.His call for women to bcome more assertive in taking overthe leadership of the society, certainly in the Legislature, is important. But the society also needs to cultivate more good men like Richard Davis sothat the commitment to the reduction of violence can continue.

A refreshing point of view on a difficult subject.
Domestic Violence Facts and Fallacies by R.L. Davis is a refreshing much needed look at a serious societal problem. Through the eyes of a police officer we come to see and understand the magnitude of this epidemic.Whobetter to speak to the subject than a police officer, someone whoexperiences and witnesses it daily in the course of their duties.I foundthe author gets right to the heart of the problem as no other has. As a 20year police veteran I found the book compelling. reading.

It will no doubt bein demand by academics
Davis is well equipped to write such a book. He has had 10 years of street experience responding to domestic violence calls as a cruiser officer; eight years as a police detective then sergeant; and three years as alieutenant, training and lecturing on the subject. In addition, he writesin a lucid style, that can be easily understood by students, professionalsand the general public. This book should be a major resource inunderstanding of the domestic violence problem and will no doubt be a textbook in demand by academics.

A multi-faceted exploration of topic.
"...domestic violence... is still not treated as a serious crime by the criminal justice system because it is not by legal definition a serious crime." In his text 'Domestic Violence, Facts and Fallacies,' RichardL. Davis shares anecdotes and insights from his twenty-one years on theBrockton, Massachusetts police force and single-handedly shatters thestereotype of the macho, donut munching man in blue.It is very difficultto fully get one's mind around the concept of domestic violence.Relationships in the 90's are very fluid and unconventional: this alone canstretch the definition of "domestic." Davis spends the first fewchapters trying to elucidate a broad definition of domestic violence, andfrankly, gets bogged down in doing so. He also investigates the history ofgender relationships in our society. However, these steps are necessary inorder to lay the groundwork for his premise that "...for every complexproblem there is a simple and elegant solution that is wrong." Thequagmire of mandatory arrests and civil (as opposed to criminal)restraining orders are some of the solutions we have relied upon that arenot only dysfunctional, but may be fanning the flames of domestic violence.His data is well researched and reflects many recent news events such asthe O. J. Simpson trial and the court frolics of Red Sox player WilfredoCordero. What I found riveting in this book are the timely anecdotes thatDavis shares from his career. He relates that fellow officers feel (andexpress!) their perceived helplessness in making a difference againstviolent acts in the home. Particularly irksome for them is the widespreadbelief that police "let their suspects go" without even spending a night injail. In fact, anyone who posts bail must, by law, be set free.Alsoironic is the fact that police can do nothing until an act of violence hasvery nearly or actually come to pass. It is this "reactive" response thatDavis rails against. He raises difficult questions, especially in regard tohow we permit children to live in violent homes and then, unrealistically,expect them to grow up into outstanding citizens.Law enforcementprocesses are a reflection of the society that spawns them. Davis outlinessteps that society must take in order to hold a proactive stance againstthe crime of domestic violence. He ends his text with a call to action forall women who must become informed and take back their power in thepolitical arena. ... Read more

Product Description
This study examines police reform efforts in the domestic violence area of policework, taking account of the issues and debates about police organization. Although specifically focussing on policing domestic violence, the author draws on a wide range of ideas and as well as providing an insight into real-life domestic violence situations and how police deal with them. Readers are invited to assess critically the notion of "police subculture", the role of social science in the police organization and the shape and context of the institution itself. The author applies a sociologically-grounded discourse analysis to a central aspect of the police role: dealing with the instances of interpersonal violence. Sympathetic to feminist perspectives and mindful of feminist scholarship, the author raises questions about the efficacy of the social control efforts of the modern police organization directed at family violence. This text should be of interest to those concerned with scientific management techniques, the sociology of organizations (especially police organizations), the social response to violence against women and criminology more generally. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Security Management, published by American Society for Industrial Security on April 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1571 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: How can workplace violence be deterred? The community policing model has been successfully applied to the problem of domestic violence. The same model can be used to address workplace violence. (Viewpoint).(Column)
Author: Stephen Dohery
Publication: Security Management (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2002
Publisher: American Society for Industrial Security
Volume: 46Issue: 4Page: 134(3)

Article Type: Column

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
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? Susan Edwards draws upon her extensive research into their actual responses, both before and after recent initiatives towards reform, 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 ideology enshrined in the law and the masculine ethos of the police and legal profession ensure that women receive less justice and less protection. She documents in detail the processes by which crimes against women are trivialized.

The book combines a review of international research with the author's own three year exploration of policing in the UK through interviews with officers, observation and a review of record keeping practice. It covers the introduction of new policing policies and offers a preliminary assessment of their success together with practical proposals for the future.

At a theoretical level, Policing `Domestic' Violence addresses the key problems of criminality and punishment. Is it possible to reconcile the feminist critique of the marginalization of so-called domestic violence with the radical critique of the punitive system as oppressive and counterproductive? Does the protection of women justify infringement of family privacy?