What Is Justice? Perspectives of Victims-Survivors of Gender-Based Violence.

This article explores "how do victims-survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) experience and perceive justice?" based on interviews with 251 victims-survivors with experience of different types of GBV and criminal, civil, and family justice systems. Victims-survivors were found to have multiple perceptions of justice, related to different points in their journey following abuse and regarding individual, community, and societal responses. Perceptions relate to accountability; fairness in outcome and process; protection from future harm; recognition; agency; empowerment; affective justice; reparation; and social transformation. Current understandings of justice in legislative and policy approaches reproduce the "justice gap" by failing to take account of how survivors themselves understand and demand justice.

The Use of Chemical Control Within Coercive Controlling Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse.

This paper explores the use of chemical control by perpetrators as part of coercive controlling intimate partner violence and abuse, defined as the nonconsenting use of prescribed and nonprescribed medication (including vaccines), and/or other substances to coerce or control, reducing the victim-survivor's capacity for independence, freedom, and health. Based on testimonies of 37 victims-survivors and nine domestic abuse practitioners in the UK we identify varying tactics used to chemically coerce and control, deepening our understanding about the continually changing forms of domestic violence and abuse and enhancing the potential for a more robust response through better informed policy and practice.

The Measurement of Domestic Abuse - Redeveloping the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Purpose: In 2020 the England and Wales Office for National Statistics commissioned the research reported here to review the current questions on domestic abuse in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and to establish how better data for policy and practice might be produced. The CSEW is a representative population survey that since the early 2000s has provided ongoing measurement of domestic abuse via a dedicated domestic abuse module, with regular publication of headline prevalence and other descriptive data. At the same time the measurement of domestic violence in the CSEW has also been the subject of ongoing debate and critique, in particular whether it is appropriate to use catch-all prevalence measures in the context of policy, practice and commissioning of services. Method: The research included analysis of CSEW user survey data (N = 39), focus group and individual interviews with male and female victims/survivors (N = 11), consultation with core stakeholders (N = 18), and consideration of international surveys and recent legislation. Results: Current CSEW questions do not capture domestic abuse accurately or reflect lived experience, coercive control needs to be seen at the core of domestic abuse, and while physical assault is an important part of measuring domestic abuse establishing frequency through counting events is probably impossible. Conclusion: A fundamental rethink of the current CSEW self-completion module is required, with a wider set of questions about domestic abuse and impact. A revised module should identify and provide estimation of prevalence for different 'abuse profiles' that would complement improved headline measures and better inform policy and practice.

Evaluation of European Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes: Toward a Model for Designing and Reporting Evaluations Related to Perpetrator Treatment Interventions.

This article is based on a review of 60 evaluations (published and unpublished) relating to European domestic violence perpetrator programmes, involving 7,212 programme participants across 12 countries. The purpose of the review, part of the "IMPACT: Evaluation of European Perpetrator Programmes" project funded by the European Commission (Daphne III Programme), was to provide detailed knowledge about the range of European evaluation studies with particular emphasis on the design, methods, input, output, and outcome measures used in order to identify the possibilities and challenges of a multicountry, Europe-wide evaluation methodology that could be used to assess perpetrator programmes in the future. We provide a model to standardise the reporting of evaluation studies and to ensure attention is paid to what information is being collected at different time points so as to understand what and how the behaviour and attitudes of perpetrators might change throughout the course of the programme.