Partnership and Power: Domestic Violence, the Women's Sector, and the Criminal Justice System

This thesis is a sociological investigation into partnership between the criminal justice system and women’s organisations, and its impact on survivors of domestic violence. To examine this, the criminal justice initiatives of the charity Standing Together Against Domestic Violence were researched – Hammersmith and Westminster Specialist Domestic Violence Courts and the Impact Project in Hammersmith Police Station. These initiatives have placed domestic violence specialists inside the police station or courts to reform they way domestic violence is investigated and prosecuted, and how survivors are supported through the process. Qualitative research was conducted which included semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, and observations of the domestic violence court’s while they were in session. The data yielded was analysed using intersectionality based policy analysis, and focused on the power dynamics between the criminal justice system, women’s organisations and its impact on marginalised survivors. The emergent themes of this research focus on how these initiatives have influenced the safety of survivors; how they impact on survivor freedom in terms of self-determination and survivor criminalisation and; how they impact on police and perpetrator accountability. Taking an intersectional approach to criminal justice policy on domestic violence, this thesis offers a unique contribution by examining how survivors from a range of social locations experience the police and courts. My findings indicate that while increased specialism in the criminal justice system has increased the safety for some survivors, it has increased the vulnerability of others.