Research That Succeeds, Policies That Fail

Abstract

The battering of women in intimate relationships has existed for thousands of years.Until early in the twentieth century, women were considered "chattel," and it was legally and socially tolerated for husbands to use violence against their wives unless "some permanent injury be inflicted or there be an excess of violence."'Although there were various attempts through the years to challenge the legal and social support for this violence, not until the 1970s did the efforts of the feminist movement and battered women themselves result in significant change.These early calls for change were hardly shocking.Advocates for change asked only that battered women be treated with fairness and be provided an opportunity forjustice. 2 They questioned why a woman beaten in her own home by her husband was denied this justice, while someone assaulted in the street was recognized as a legitimate victim of a crime. 3 No one argued that our system ofjustice was perfect or that exercising legal authority over these offenders would magically solve a centuries-old problem.Advocates believed, however, that treating victims of domestic violence as seriously as other victims of violent crime would, if nothing else, communicate that the behavior was no longer socially or legally

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