STEVE BASILE'S GROUNDBREAKING
FATHERHOOD COALITION STUDY
OF 209A RESTRAINING ORDERS
IN GARDNER DISTRICT COURT
The second phase of the
study has been published
by the Journal of Family
Violence, June 2005. The
study
is available online
to subscribers of the Journal,
but it is also available
for individual purchase.
Journal of Family Violence
Issue: Volume 20,
Number 3, June 2005
A Measure
of Court Response to Requests
for Protection
By Steve Basile, Fatherhood
Coalition, Milford, Massachusetts
Abstract
Are male victims of domestic
violence provided the same
protections as female victims?
With increasing entanglement
of custody and domestic
violence law, the answer
to this question is critical
for fathers embroiled in
disputes where allegations
are sometimes made to secure
custody of children. All
non-impounded requests for
Abuse Prevention Orders
initiated in Massachusetts
Gardner District Court,
in the year 1997, involving
opposite gender litigants
were analyzed to determine
if court response to the
associated allegations is
affected by the gender of
those litigants. These orders
were previously examined
and male and female defendants
were found similarly abusive.
By studying the characteristics
of each case, and overall
court response at court
hearings, a determination
is made concerning any evident
gender trends in the aggregate
court response to requests
for protection. Despite
gender-neutral language
of abuse prevention law
(M.G.L. c. 209A), application
of that law favors female
plaintiffs.
The first part of the study
has been published by the
Journal of Family Violence,
Issue 1, February 2004.
The study
is available online
to subscribers of the Journal,
but is also available for
individual purchase.
Comparison
of Abuse Alleged by Same-
and Opposite-Gender Litigants
as Cited in Requests for
Abuse Prevention Orders
By Steve
Basile, Fatherhood Coalition,
Milford, Massachusetts
Abstract
Domestic
violence is commonly portrayed
as something male batterers
do to their female victims.
Much research excludes study
of female-perpetrated violence.
This study develops a two-gender
measure of abuse as documented
by requests for protection.
All nonimpounded Abuse Prevention
Orders (M.G.L. c. 209A)
issued in Massachusetts'
Gardner District Court in
the year 1997 were analyzed
by gender to examine the
level and types of violence
alleged by plaintiffs. The
level and types of violence
were categorized and measured
by examining Abuse Claimed
Checkboxes found on each
Complaint for Protection
and by applying quantitative
scales to affidavits, or
plaintiff statements, filed
as part of each request
for protection. Despite
widespread misconceptions
that tend to minimize female
abuse, examination of these
court documents shows that
male and female defendants,
who were the subject of
a complaint in domestic
relation cases, while sometimes
exhibiting different aggressive
tendencies, measured almost
equally abusive in terms
of the overall level of
psychological and physical
aggression.
Journal
of Family Violence, 19 (1):
59-68, February 2004
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