A study into the impact of feminism upon legal discourse in criminal justice policies on wife battering in Canada.

Abstract

Feminist scholars have become aware of the risks of engaging law to address women's needs and concerns. In fact, several Canadian feminist writers (Currie, 1990; Snider, 1991) argue that the criminal justice system is not a reliable ally for feminists, and suggest that relying on it will not empower women, but will sustain institutions that perpetuate the status quo of political, economic and familial relations which subordinate women to men. The purpose of this study is to examine of the extent to which feminist discourses have been incorporated into justice policies and to demonstrate the power of feminism to re-define the legal response to male violence against women in intimate relations. Following Smart's (1989) work, Feminism and the Power of Law, it is hypothesized that feminist discourses will be marginalized in legal discourse. Manifest and latent content analysis are employed to determine the degree to which feminist discourses on wife battering have had an impact upon legal discourse injustice policies. The sample consists of thirteen policies published between 1986 and 1997 in provinces and territories across Canada. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)