Feminist Framework Plus: Knitting Feminist Theories of Rape Etiology Into a Comprehensive Model.

The radical-liberal feminist perspective on rape posits that the assault is motivated by power and control rather than sexual gratification and is a violent rather than a sexual act. However, rape is a complex act. Relying on only one early strand of feminist thought to explain the etiology of rape limits feminists' understanding of rape and the practice based upon the theory. The history of the adoption of the "power, not sex" theory is presented and the model critiqued. A more integrated model is developed and presented, the Feminist Framework Plus, which knits together five feminist theories into a comprehensive model that better explains the depth and breadth of the etiology of rape. Empirical evidence that supports each theory is detailed as well as the implications of the model on service provision, education, and advocacy.

An integrative feminist model: the evolving feminist perspective on intimate partner violence.

The feminist perspective on intimate partner violence is a predominant model in the field, although not immune to criticism. In this research, frontline workers in the violence against women movement responded to critiques of the feminist model. The project used a focus group and a modified grounded theory analysis. Participants agreed with some criticisms, including an overreliance on a punitive criminal justice system, but reported skepticism toward proposed alternatives. Findings led to the development of the Integrative Feminist Model, which expands the feminist perspective in response to critiques, new research, and alternative theories while retaining a gendered analysis of violence.

Prosecutorial perspectives on gender-bias hate crimes.

Increasingly, state and federal hate crime policies include the status category of gender. This study assesses prosecutors' knowledge of gender-bias hate crimes and their willingness to charge violence against women as a hate crime. A grounded theory method used qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of prosecutors from Texas. The study found prosecutors insufficiently informed about gender-bias hate crimes. Prosecutors attribute violence against women to motivations of power and control rather than hate. Prosecutors find hate crime prosecutions problematic, including the use of the category of gender. The findings have implications for the hate crime and antiviolence against women movements.

Different paths to death row: a comparison of men who committed heinous and less heinous crimes.

Part of the answer to violent crime prevention is to understand the route that those who have committed violent crimes have traveled in order to find ways to guide others from the road leading to such violence. An investigation of the lifelong personal and environmental factors affecting 37 men who were executed in 1997 focuses on distinctions between men in two categories based on heinousness of violent crime. The study aimed to identify risk factors and events that preceded the violent event and to compare the constellation of variables of the men who committed particularly heinous murders characterized by extreme rage and brutality with those whose crimes and criminal histories were characterized mostly by property crimes without intentional harm to people. Descriptive results suggest differences between the two groups of men related to 19 variables and the emergence of two diverse profiles of risk factors and life experiences.