Domestic violence case processing: a matter of local legal culture |
| |
Authors: | Kathleen Currul-Dykeman |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Department of Sociology and Criminology, Stonehill College, 320 Washington Street, North Easton, MA 02357, USAKcurruldykeman@stonehill.edu |
| |
Abstract: | As one enters a courthouse, its culture is communicated to its listening visitors. The manner in which the security guards speak; the length of time victims are kept waiting; the amount of bail a defendant is assessed; communicate messages to those who are paying attention. Domestic violence cases have long suffered from lenient treatment and dismissals in our criminal courts. This paper examines a unique explanation for this problem: the court’s local legal culture. The elements of two courts’ local legal culture that most profoundly impacted their processing of domestic violence cases are examined. Over a six month period, 23 in depth interviews were conducted with court workgroup members in two courts, one with a specialized domestic violence session and one without. Court room observations were used to supplement these interviews. The results were insightful and telling about how a court’s culture can, at times, be more influential on case processing than the law itself. |
| |
Keywords: | domestic violence local legal culture specialized courts problem-solving model of justice resources collaboration |
|
|