If you didn’t see NYU Press author Leigh Goodmark’s op-ed in the Baltimore Sun last week, check it out here!
In “Domestic violence: Legal system fails abused women,” Goodmark asserts that it’s time to explore other ways to address domestic abuse, and gives examples of how some advocates and communities are developing creative responses that take place outside of the traditional criminal justice system.
For too long, the legal system has been the default response to domestic violence in the United States. Such a narrowly crafted response denies justice to women who are unable or unwilling to engage that system. Criminal prosecution cannot heal the injuries that some women experience. A small but growing voice is coalescing around the idea that criminal justice intervention is not the best way to prevent and respond to domestic violence.
Leigh Goodmark is Associate Professor of Law, Director of Clinical Education, and Co-Director of the Center on Applied Feminism at the University of Baltimore School of Law (which, by the way, hosts an annual scholarly symposium on feminist legal theory, where previous speakers have included influential women such as Toni Morrison, Gloria Stienem and Maya Angelou!).
Goodmark’s forthcoming book, A Troubled Marriage: Domestic Violence and the Legal System, will be out this December. Go to our website to browse the contents, introduction, and other pages from the book!
