Using Law and Leaving
Domestic violence: Women's Voices

One in three Australian women experience domestic violence. This research has increased our understanding of the role of law in assisting women of diverse backgrounds to live a life free of violence.

Domestic violence severely damages communities across the globe and law is recognised as a key mechanism for prevention and redress. This project involved a longitudinal study examining how women of diverse backgrounds have used the law to help them live a life free of violence. The project investigated what influences women's decisions to choose particular legal interventions but not others, and identified unintended consequences flowing from legal engagement. The project highlights what contributes to women’s satisfaction and sense of safety resulting from legal interventions over time, and has made an important contribution to community education, policy implementation and law reform, both within Australia and internationally.

This research was funded by the Australian Research Council's Future Fellowship scheme (project number FT140100796). The project leader was Professor Heather Douglas.

Reports

Download the interim report (2016) (PDF, 715KB)
Download the final report (2018) (PDF, 1.2MB)
Research findings and impact story (2019)

Legal responses, including civil protection orders, criminal law, family law, child protection and immigration law, are a significant part of the response to domestic violence; however the way in which different legal systems overlap, conflict and work together has been an issue of major concern for law and policy makers and for women who use law.

Understanding the way in which women from diverse backgrounds engage with law has important implications for policy development and law reform. Regardless of whether the victim and the perpetrator begin to live separately or continue to reside together, there are often complex and continuing emotional, financial and legal ties between them and enduring and complex power dynamics. Financial and care responsibilities and visiting rights to children often remain post-separation.

This research listened to women’s experience of the range of legal interventions available in cases of domestic violence, in order to understand how women engage with and experience legal interventions over time. Understanding how women use and experience legal interventions is critical to ensuring that education, policies and laws are developed which work for the women they are designed to protect.

As part of this research a series of interviews with women recruited from domestic and family violence services was conducted. Women were interviewed three times over a three year period.

In The Conversation

Heather Douglas, Bridget Harris and Molly Dragiewicz, ‘Migrant women are particularly vulnerable to technology-facilitated domestic abuse’ 1 February 2019
Heather Douglas and Robin Fitzgerald, ‘How Indigenous women have become targets in a domestic violence system intended to protect them’ 14 September 2018
Mandy Shircore and Heather Douglas, ‘Court opens door to domestic violence victim to sue police for negligence’ 20 August 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Why are rates of domestic violence in Australia still so high?’ 10 November 2017
Heather Douglas, ‘FactCheck Q&A: What are the facts on funding domestic violence legal services in Australia?’ -28 November 2016
Mark Burdon and Heather Douglas ‘The smart home could worsen domestic abuse. But the same technology may also make us safer’ -12 September 2017
Heather Douglas and Leigh Goodmark, ‘Police Perpetrators of Domestic Violence: What do we know and what can be done?’ - 2 November 2015
Heather Douglas and Leigh Goodmark, ‘Beware the Unintended Consequences of Police - Worn Body Cameras’ - 29 September 2015

Refereed Journal Articles

Heather Douglas and Rachna Nagesh, ‘Domestic and Family Violence, Child Support and ‘the exemption’’ Online first 16 August 2019, Journal of Family Studies
Heather Douglas ‘Policing Domestic and family Violence’ (2019) 8 (2) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
Heather Douglas, Bridget Harris and Molly Dragiewicz, ‘Technology-facilitated domestic and family violence: women’s experiences’ (2019) 59(3) British Journal of Criminology 551-570
Heather Douglas and Katherine Kerr. ‘Domestic and Family Violence, Reproductive Coercion and the Role for Law.’ (2018) 26 Journal of Law and Medicine 341-355
Leah Sharman, Heather Douglas, Liz Price, Nicola Sheeran and Genevieve Dingle, ‘Associations Between Unintended Pregnancy, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault in a population of Queensland Women’ Published online 24 October 2018 Psychiatry, Psychology and Law
Heather Douglas and Robin Fitzgerald, ‘The Domestic Violence Protection Order System as Entry to the Criminal Justice System for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’ (2018) 7(3) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 41-57
Heather Douglas ‘Domestic and family Violence, Mental Health and Well-being, and Legal Engagement’. (2018) 25 (3) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 341-356
‘Legal Responses to Non-Consensual Smartphone Recordings in the Context of Domestic and Family Violence’ (2018) 41 (1) New South Wales Law Journal, 157-184 with Mark Burdon
‘Legal systems abuse and coercive control’ (2018) 18(1) Criminology and Criminal Justice 84-91
‘Domestic and Family Violence and Police Negligence’ (2017) 39 Sydney Law Review 539-567 with Mandy Shircore and Victoria Morwood
‘Domestic and family violence and the approach to bail’. (2016) 34 (2) Law in Context: a socio-legal journal 36-57 with Emily Ng
‘Intellectual Disabilities, Domestic Violence and Legal Engagement’ (2016) 31 (3) Disability & Society 305-321 with Paul Harpur
‘Do we need a Specific Domestic Violence Offence?’ (2015) 39(1) Melbourne University Law Review 434-471

Chapters in edited collections

Heather Douglas, ‘Co-option of children in relation to intimate partner violence and the use of technology’ in Bridget Harris and Delanie Woodlock eds. Technology and Domestic Violence: Experiences, Perpetration and Responses forthcoming Routledge 2020
Heather Douglas, ‘Alternative constructions of a family violence offence’ in Marilyn McMahon and Paul McGorrery eds. Criminalising Non-Physical Family Violence: Coercive Control and Autonomy Crimes, Routledge. Forthcoming 2019
Heather Douglas, ‘Prosecuting Domestic Violence Cases: Listening to Victims’ in Victoria Colvin and Philip Stenning eds. The Evolving Role of the Prosecutor: Challenges and Innovations (Routledge, 2018), 154-168
Heather Douglas ‘Domestic violence protection orders and their role in ensuring personal security.’ In Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Sandra Walklate, Jude McCulloch, JaneMaree Maher eds. Intimate Partner Violence, Risk and Security: Securing Women’s Lives in a Global World, Routledge, 2018, pp216-232

Video resources

'Technology, Privacy and Domestic Violence', Video Resource, Heather Douglas and Mark Burdon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F46W7M4q4iU (5.24min)

Podcasts

Heather Douglas in Conversation with Cathy van Extel, ‘Domestic Violence and the Law’ Big Ideas, Radio National, 9 October 2018

Workshop communique

Workshop Communique: Gendered Violence – Linking Local and Global Perspectives ;27 October 2017

Short articles

Heather Douglas, ‘A red flag for homicide: Should non-fatal strangulation be made a stand-alone criminal offence?’ APPS Policy Forum 3 October 2018
‘Do we need an offence of Coercive Control?’ (2018) 144 (January-February) Precedent 18-21

Expert evidence

Inquest into the Death of Tracy Beale, Coroner’s Court, Gladstone, COR 2013/246, 13-15 March 2018
Beale v O’Connell & Ors [2017] QSC 127

Selected media

Interview: Hayley Gleeson, ‘What happens when an abused woman fights back?’ ABC online, 30 July 2019
Interview ‘Family violence and strangulation’ Law Report, ABC Radio National 12 March 2019
Interview ‘Domestic violence and technology: How migrant women are impacted,’ 2SER, 20 February 2019
Interview ‘Domestic Violence and the Law’ Big Ideas, Radio National, 9 October 2018
Interview, ‘Enforcing Apprehended Violence Online’ 2SER Radio (podcast) 22 October 2018
Article by Robert Hardy, ‘The New Hunting Ground: The Rise of Digital Domestic Violence’, Marie Claire issue October 2016 pp 64-68
Bek Day, ‘The Information that could save a domestic violence victim’s life’ 28 March 2017, Kidspot, Australia
Bek Day, ‘Another mother killed by DV: How does the system need to change’ 28 April 2017, Kidspot, Australia
4BC Brisbanewide with Ben Davis, Interview about Domestic Violence month, 1 May 2017
Interview, Sunday Extra, ABC Radio National, Interview, ‘Is psychological or emotional family violence a crime?’ 26 November 2017

View case studies based on interviews undertaken with women who have agreed to be interviewed for this research.

Case studies

Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety to Violence against Women & their Children (ANROWS): www.anrows.org.au/
Australian Feminist Judgments Project: www.law.uq.edu.au/the-australian-feminist-judgments-project
Caxton Legal Centre: https://caxton.org.au/
Immigrant Women’s Support Service: www.iwss.org.au/
Queensland Indigenous Family Violence legal Service: www.qifvls.com.au/index.html
Women’s Legal Service (Queensland): www.wlsq.org.au/
Working Against Violence Support Service (WAVSS): www.wavss.org/
Ipswich Women’s Centre Against Domestic Violence: www.iwcadv.org.au/
WWILD (Working Alongside People with Intellectual and Learning Disabilities): www.wwild.org.au/
Domestic Violence Assistance program (DVAP): http://qlddomesticviolencelink.org.au/the-domestic-violence-assistance-program-dvap/

Heather Douglas, ‘Judicial understandings of domestic and family violence: Women's experiences’ European Conference on Domestic Violence 1-4 September 2019, Oslo
Heather Douglas, ‘Legal Systems Abuse in the Context of Domestic Violence’. Keynote: Womens’ Legal Services Australia Network Meeting, 26 August 2019
Heather Douglas (2019) speaker, Domestic Violence: Social Security and the Couple Rule, Webinar hosted by ANROWS and Griffith University 26 July
Heather Douglas, Emerging areas of research: adolescent family violence & the co-option of children in technology facilitated abuse’ Child Representation Conference, Legal Aid NSW and Legal Aid ACT, Canberra, 15 March 2019
Heather Douglas and Rachel Neil, ‘Litigant experiences from DV Courts’ Queensland Magistrates’ Conference 2019: Specialist Domestic Violence- Walk in their Shoes, 26 February 2019
Heather Douglas, ‘Lawyers and domestic violence: Women’s Experiences’ Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, 12-15 December, Wollongong, 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Policy issues for Domestic Violence’ Panel Discussion, Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, 12-15 December, Wollongong, 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Policing Intimate Partner Violence’ Critical Criminology & Social Justice Conference, 26th- 28th September, Sydney, 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Using Law and Leaving Violence: Women’s Voices’ SCU staff, 19 October 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Women’s experiences of domestic violence protection orders.’ UTS staff seminar, Sydney, 26 September, 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Qualitative methodologies and longitudinal studies.’ UTS early career staff seminar, Sydney, 26 September, 2018
Heather Douglas, Panel member ‘Domestic Violence and the Law’ Feminist Writer’s Festival, Sydney, 2 November 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Domestic and family violence, mental health and well-being and legal engagement’. Magistrates Continuing Professional Development Seminars 18 September 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Legal Responses to Domestic violence- where to next?’ Annual Social Justice Lecture, James Cook University (Townsville and Cairns) 11 and 12 September 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Domestic Violence and Reproductive Coercion’ Expert panel, Parliamentary Annexe, Parliament House, Brisbane, 5 September 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Domestic Violence and the Law: Achievements and Future Directions’ 2018, Sir Harry Gibbs Law Dinner Lecture, 30 August 2018 Brisbane
Heather Douglas, ‘The Co-option of Children in relation to Intimate partner Violence and the use of Technology’ presented at Technology and Domestic Violence: Experience, Perpetration and Responses (Workshop) QUT, Brisbane, 3 August 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Gender and Justice’ presented at the Brisbane Feminist Festival, Brisbane, 4 August 2018. https://www.onewomanproject.org/brisbanefeministfestival
Heather Douglas and Robin Fitzgerald, ‘Breaches of domestic violence orders and their contribution to prison numbers’ presented at Futures of Sentencing and Incarceration (Workshop) UQ, Brisbane, 30 July 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘The National Domestic and family Violence bench Book: Future Directions’ presented at What matters most to families in the 21^st century? (Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference), Melbourne Exhibition Centre, 27 July 2018
Heather Douglas, ‘Alternative constructions of a family violence offence.’ Roundtable- Criminalising Psychological Abuse in the Context of Family Violence, Deakin University, 24 November 2017
Heather Douglas, ‘Legal responses to domestic violence in the context of Human Services’ Department of Human Services (Cth) In-service, Brisbane, 11 October 2017
Heather Douglas, ‘Domestic violence protection orders and their role in ensuring personal security’ Monash Prato Roundtable: Intimate partner violence, risk and security: Securing women’s lives in a global world, Prato, Italy, 19 September 2017
Heather Douglas, ‘Strangulation in the context of domestic and family Violence’ Presentation to the Queensland Domestic Violence Death Review Board, 25 August 2017
Heather Douglas, ‘Domestic violence and mental illness: Implications for legal engagement’ Conference presentation, XXXVth International Congress on Law and Mental health, Charles University, Prague, 12 July 2017
Heather Douglas, ‘ Criminal Justice issues and the National Domestic and Family Violence Bench Book’ Seminar, Robertson O’Gorman Solicitors, Brisbane, 5 July 2017
Heather Douglas, ‘Legal Systems (Abuse) and Domestic Violence’ , RMIT Law School Staff Seminar, 22 September 2016, Melbourne
Heather Douglas, ‘Coordinating responses: plugging the gaps in the system’ Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Australian Chapter 3^rd Annual Conference, 18 August 2016, Brisbane
Douglas, Heather Anne (2016). Prosecuting Domestic Violence Cases: Is a New Offence the Answer?. In: IAS Fellows Seminar, Durham University, UK, 25 January
Douglas, Heather Anne (2016). Using Law in Response to Domestic Abuse: Women's Experiences. In: Domestic Abuse and the Search for Justice: Principles, Practices, Policies, Durham, 16 March 2016
Douglas, Heather Anne (2016). Legal Systems Abuse and Coercive Control. In: Two Steps Forward and Two Steps Back? Contemporary Issues in Access to Justice for Victims of Family and Domestic Violence, Legal Intersections Research Centre, School of Law, University of Wollongong, (). 15 April 2016