Presenter: Ella Katherine Masciarelli

Faculty Sponsor: Kathleen A. Brown-Perez

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Law and Legal Studies

Session: Poster Session 5, 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM, Auditorium, A64

ABSTRACT

Domestic violence is one of the most pervasive crimes as well as a major public health crisis across the globe. One in four women in the United States will experience a form of domestic violence in their lifetime, and the issue continues to escalate. The Covid-19 pandemic significantly worsened this crisis, and rates of domestic violence surged due to isolation and economic instability. Despite these increases, the legal frameworks intended to address domestic violence have remained unchanged. The United States is reliant on arrest and prosecution as their main forms of intervention in Domestic Violence. This paper examines the implementation of various domestic violence policies, analyzing their justification and potential consequences. While initially intended to minimize rates of domestic violence and serve as a form of deterrence, domestic violence policies have instead mimicked the forms of control which victims experience in their abuse.

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