Donna Chung

Programs for men who perpetrate domestic violence: an examination of the issues underlying the effectiveness of intervention programs

This review paper seeks to explore some of the reasons why rehabilitation programs for male perpetrators of domestic violence appear to be less effective in reducing recidivism than programs for other offender groups. It is argued that while the model of systems response to domestic violence has predominated at the inter-agency level, further consideration might be given to way in which men’s intervention groups are both designed and delivered. It is concluded that the program logic of men’s domestic violence programs is rarely articulated leading to low levels of program integrity, and that one way to further improve program effectiveness is to incorporate some of the approaches evident in more general violence prevention programs and from what is know about good practice in general about offender rehabilitation.

Complexities of discretion in social services in the third sector

Policy analysts have devoted considerable time to examining the problem of the policy implementation gap, with one important strand in the literature following Michael Lipskys work on street-level bureaucracy and discretion. In this paper, we aim to contribute to the literature concerning shifts in government/third sector organisation contractual arrangements and whether they constitute a significant (post-neoliberal) development in policy implementation. Using a case study of contracted government services in Australia, we revisit the conception of discretion to reflect on the impact of these changes and document their implications for the use of discretion in management and front-line worker practices.

Intimate Partner Violence and Housing: Eroding Women’s Citizenship

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an extreme example of gender inequality that compromises women’s citizenship. This article discusses the effects of IPV on women’s housing circumstances based on the findings of a large national Australian survey. The analysis found that IPV erodes women’s citizenship, which includes their access to safe and affordable housing, connections to “home,” and participation in community life. Drawing on notions of gendered citizenship, this article provides new understandings about how women negotiate housing as a key dimension of citizenship in the context of IPV.

Economic Abuse as an Invisible Form of Domestic Violence: A Multicountry Review:

The predominant perception of intimate partner violence (IPV) as constituting physical violence can still dominate, particularly in research and media reports, despite research documenting multiple forms of IPV including sexual violence occurring between intimate partners and various forms of psychological and emotional abuse. One frequently hidden or “invisible” form of abuse perpetrated within intimate partner relationships is economic abuse, also referred to as financial abuse in much of the literature. While the links between gendered economic insecurity and economic abuse are emerging, there remains a lack of consistency about definitions within the United States and globally, as there is no agreed upon index with which to measure economic abuse. As such, the purpose of this article is to review and analyze the global literature focused on either economic or financial abuse to determine how it is defined and what measures are used to capture its prevalence and impact. The 46 peer-reviewed articles that met all inclusion criteria for analysis came from a range of countries across six continents. Our review found that there is growing clarity and consistency of terminologies being used in these articles and found some consistency in the use of validated measures. Since this research is in its “infancy,” we need to have stronger collaborative efforts to use similar measures and terminology. Part of that collaborative effort is to consider how language and cultural differences may play a part in our understanding of economic abuse.