Violence Against Women: An International Perspective by Holly Johnson, Natalia Ollus, and Sami Nevala. Springer, 2008, 287 pp.
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Review by Kristin Carbone-Lopez, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Despite increased attention in the international arena on the problem of violence against women, gathering comparative data on the prevalence and nature of such violence internationally has been difficult. The most recent book by Holly Johnson and her colleagues makes an important contribution to the literature in this area because it demonstrates that it is possible to do so. This text summarizes the results from the International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS), a huge global endeavor that documents the victimization experiences of more than 23,000 women from nine countries (Australia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hong Kong, Mozambique, the Philippines, Poland, and Switzerland). Besides offering one of the most methodologically rigorous and standardized examinations of violence against women in a comparative context to date, their timely study provides much needed information on the extent and nature of violence against women while issuing a challenge to policy and decision-makers in all countries to take steps to end this violence. Importantly, their work addresses one of the key critiques of cross-national research – that results are not comparable – through their careful and standardized approach to data collection.
In the first chapter, the authors briefly discuss international legal and policy frameworks that are charged with addressing violence against women and suggest that in order to attain the goal of eradicating such violence, reliable statistical data are needed for all countries. Next, they review existing sources of information on violence against women which have largely been confined to single country population-based surveys. These fractioned sources of data make comparative analyses difficult across countries, even in terms of basic knowledge such as the proportion of women who have been victims of violence in their lifetime. Existing multi-country surveys such as the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence Against Women, implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO), do not necessarily draw on comparable samples of women across countries, which makes cross-national comparisons nearly impossible. Further, these surveys provide no information on the role of the criminal justice and legal systems in women’s help-seeking, which makes it impossible for researchers and policymakers to evaluate the effectiveness of legal and criminal justice responses to violence against women. The IVAWS was designed, in part, to address this problem and to use such information to learn how governments and society as a whole can effectively intervene to reduce violence.
The second chapter provides details on the development of the methodology and questionnaire as well as on the sample size and reliability of estimates from each of the countries participating in the IVAWS. The authors also summarize the outline of the questionnaire which follows three basic themes: women’s experiences of male violence, details and consequences of these violent experiences, and information on the background and current characteristics of women and their male partners. (For the interested reader, the full questionnaire is also included as an appendix). Finally, and most importantly in light of the comparative nature of their project, the authors review some of the limitations related to multi-country research. These include: cultural differences, variance in subjective meanings of violence, translation of survey questions, differences in modes of interviewing (i.e. while some of the countries opted to use face-to-face interviews, others did telephonic interviews), and response rates. (They also include memory and recall, but most researchers would agree that this is a universal problem, not one that is associated only with cross-national research). Their careful attention to these limitations, as well as the measures they take to ensure that the surveys were implemented as systematically as possible, are one of the most important contributions of this work.
The remaining chapters focus on the results of the surveys that – in some cases – provide the only source of data on the extent and nature of violence against women in the country. The prevalence and severity of violence against women, including violence by partners and non-partners; the risk factors and consequences of intimate partner violence for women; and women’s help-seeking behavior and criminal justice responses to women’s disclosure of violence are presented for each country surveyed. The results from the nine countries indicate that, in the majority of the countries, between 35 and 60% of women report that they have experienced physical or sexual violence by any man since the age of 16 and between 22 and 40% report lifetime physical or sexual assault by an intimate partner. In examining the correlates of intimate partner violence, the authors find that women who experienced or witnessed violence in childhood were at an increased risk for further victimization in adulthood.
Other important risk factors for intimate partner violence revolve around characteristics of male partners including their use of controlling behaviors and emotional abuse against female partners, abuse of alcohol, their use of violence outside of the home and their early childhood experiences of violence within the family of origin. Few women report their violent experiences to police or other service professionals; less than one third of the women surveyed reported to police. Even when women report victimization, in all countries except Poland, fewer than 5% of violent incidents result in the conviction of the perpetrator. The striking similarities of the findings from the IVAWS to those from other countries lead the authors to conclude that male violence against women “is a world-wide phenomenon which exists within a context of unequal power relations between women and men” (pg. 168). Further, because of the small proportion of victims who disclose their experiences to the police, and the high attrition rate of such cases through the criminal justice system, they argue that criminal justice institutions are unable to solve the problem alone.
I would certainly agree with the authors’ conclusion that violence against women is a “world-wide phenomenon,” however there may be less “universality” to their findings than they suggest. Focusing only on the similarities between countries downplays some of the remarkable country differences the research uncovers. For example, women in Costa Rica had the highest rates of sexual violence as well as the highest rates of violent victimization by men other than intimate partners. In terms of reporting practices, compared to the other countries, women in Poland were much more likely to report experiences of intimate partner violence to police (31%); moreover, criminal charges were filed in nearly one third of these instances and, overall, 10% of all of the most recent incidents of intimate partner violence in Poland ended in a conviction. However, the authors do not attempt, in any consistent fashion, to explain why women’s risk of violence are comparatively high in certain countries or, conversely, why women are significantly more likely in other countries to report to police (which seems to also result in higher conviction rates of partners). More contextual information on the countries involved might have been useful to try and untangle these differences. The authors give the reader a brief glimpse in an appendix that contains a summary of the laws related to domestic violence, sexual assault and marital rape in each country. However, I would have liked to see that information incorporated more into their discussion in the text.
Overall, though, this book provides a great deal of timely comparative information on the extent, nature and consequences of violence against women. It would be appropriate for use in graduate courses on violence against women, victimology and could even be used in a research methods seminar as an excellent example of the process of doing comparative research. This book could easily have been 200 pages longer and I – like others eager to learn more – would have kept on reading. That said, I anticipate that future work by Johnson and her colleagues will delve more deeply into these data.
What Works with Women Offenders by Rosemary Sheehan, Gill McIvor, and Chris Trotter (eds.), Willan, 2007, 326 pp.
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Review by Jenny Parry, Bangor University, UK
This volume offers a valuable contribution to criminology, sociology and women’s studies in that it provides the reader with a concise update of the theory and practice underpinning the responses to women who are convicted of criminal offences. The text offers an international perspective within the fourteen chapters identifying the lack of parity in the treatment of men and women throughout the criminal justice process in the UK, USA, Australia and Canada. The content illustrates the various ways of dealing with women’s criminality in each of the countries identified thus giving some interesting comparisons, whilst also highlighting the premise that women should be treated differently from men as their life experiences, aspirations and economic status are generally not the same as their male counterparts.
The difficulties that women experience compared to men with regard to resettlement are explored and programs for women on release into the community are discussed. The use of community based penalties is considered in depth, and the advantages and disadvantages of each is evaluated within a framework relevant to practitioners working in the criminal justice system.
The book follows a well trodden path, drawing on work from established authors which is developed and confirmed in terms of perceived ‘double deviance’ and unfair punishment outcomes for women. While there is nothing particularly ground-breaking in terms of theory, there is confirmation in this up-to-date work of the belief that the treatment of women within the justice system is arbitrary and unfair, and that the incarceration of women is not the answer.
It has been acknowledged for some years that the use of prison as punishment for female offenders is expanding universally, and that the number of incarcerated women is continuing to rise. It is also acknowledged that the effect on the families of women prisoners is worse than when men are imprisoned. In spite of this commonly understood situation there has been no sign of any change to this state of affairs, despite the burgeoning amount of both academic and public attention to this problem, and of evidence in support of this argument.
The chapters, by writers from the four countries, move through the criminal justice process discussing the crimes women commit, and their sentencing, imprisonment, parole and reintegration. In support of these elemental topics, related factors are introduced, including treatment programs in prison, health and mental health of female offenders, and their housing, employment and childcare needs following release. A compelling thread throughout the book draws the reader’s attention to the practical barriers which prevent the female offender from making a successful and manageable return to the community. The authors in turn offer possible suggestions about how the situation could be ameliorated.
The contributing authors all deal with different aspects of women’s journey through the criminal justice process from arrest to release, and the relevant policy in terms of female offenders is comparable in each of the countries included. Although these are not comparative studies per se, existing knowledge of legislation and policy directives within the readers’ own country will allow for useful comparisons with the others. The introduction to the book provides a beneficial overview of each chapter to guide the reader to points of particular relevance, while the final chapter gives a round up of the chapters indicating which of the programs has been successful, and discusses what does work effectively with women offenders.
Although there is no longer such a paucity of work on women and crime as there once was, the value of this book is that it brings international perspectives to traditional theories about female offenders. It will be a useful and informative text for practitioners within the criminal justice system as well as a valuable additional source for students of both criminology and women’s studies.