Narrative Accounts of Domestic Violence: She Said, He Said, the Police Said

• In Event: Protection Orders, Legal Processing, and Domestic Violence

Abstract

The legal response to domestic violence (DV) has increasingly focused on civil domestic violence protection order legislation in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Domestic violence protection orders (DVOs) are now the most common legal remedy sought by, or on behalf of, women experiencing DV in Australia. DVO applications are lodged by the victim, or on their behalf by the police, and include a detailed narrative of the most recent incident or threat of violence. Earlier research has pointed to important differences in the language used by actors in the criminal justice system to conform to informal norms of legal communication, in contrast to the language used by victims themselves. Using narrative analysis, this study investigates differences in how victims and police describe acts of domestic violence when lodging a DVO. The study is based on a sample of verbatim narratives from DVO applications lodged by or on behalf of a sample of male and female DVO petitioners in Brisbane, Australia. In addition to the differences in police and petitioner narratives, and resulting DVO outcomes, the findings highlight gender differences in how men and women represent the narrative of victimization.

Authors

• Robin Fitzgerald, University of Queensland

• Heather Douglas, University of Queensland