Sharon L. Cairns

Book Review: Domestic abuse, homicide and gender: Strategies for policy and practiceSmithJ. M.WilliamsA.MullaneF. (2014). Domestic abuse, homicide and gender: Strategies for policy and practice. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. 184 pp.

The critical message of this book is that there is a disconnect between how domestic violence (DV) is experienced and how it is perceived by the public, service providers, and the justice system. Misconceptions create barriers for those who experience DV, such as obstacles to service, protection, and, ultimately, healing. Even with decades of advocacy, the subtle but deeply entrenched idea persists that individuals who are abused are to blame for their circumstances. The focus of the research presented in this book is on women who are abused by male partners. The author discusses the perspectives of (a) police officers, police support staff, and paramedics (referred to as the ‘‘professionals’’ in the book); (b) women who were abused; (c) families of femicide victims; and (d) the research literature with an emphasis on the point of first contact following an emergency call. The goals of the book are to present a model for understanding ‘‘victims’’ and ‘‘perpetrators’’ of DV that will bridge the disconnection between professionals and ‘‘victims’’ and to provide recommendations for practice. The proposed audience is broad and includes professionals, the public, and academics. When reading this book, one must be prepared for the jarring, non-feminist labeling of individuals as ‘‘victims’’ and ‘‘abusers’’ throughout. This use of language might be understood as a result of the authors’ backgrounds; authors are a former police officer, now a senior lecturer in criminology; a senior paramedic and practitioner-educator; and the director of an agency specializing in supporting families following domestic homicide. The authors repeatedly label perpetrators of DV as mentally ill, which also diminishes the discursive understanding of the problem. As a presentation of research, this work falls short of scholarly standards in terms of describing the methodology, analysis, and findings. Participants are not always described, and there is no indication of interview protocols or approaches to data analysis. Some of the cited literature is questionable, such as statistics that were presented to a police training class and data from secondary sources. Despite the above-mentioned criticisms, there is value in this book, particularly for police, other first responders, and mental health workers or health workers who are not familiar with the dynamics of intimate partner abuse. The authors emphasize how the social discourse regarding ‘‘victims’’ and ‘‘abusers’’ and social gender stereotypes feed misperceptions of DV and the individuals involved. They describe how the picture first responders see when attending a domestic violence incident is but a snapshot of a longer movie that entails repeated incidents of abuse and control. As the authors point out, women who are abused are strategic and manage very dangerous men on a routine basis. The authors are emphatic that while individuals who are abused need support and services, we cannot have an impact on the incidence of intimate partner abuse until we, as a society, hold individuals who abuse accountable for their behavior. Additional value is included in the first responder toolkit, which includes information on differentiating between abuse and argument, risk factors for homicide, how to validate the experience of women who have been abused, and a stalking checklist. However, removing DV from its wider social context—as a gendered and culturally diverse experience—may also limit the ability to adequately understand and address it. DV as a social issue is not prioritized because it is not understood as an enduring, widespread, and debilitating social problem (e.g., Pain, 2014; Sloan-Lynch, 2012). In conclusion, this book may be uniquely positioned as a practical resource for first responders. However, it cannot be recommended as scholarly writing for academics or students.