Prosecuting Domestic Violence A Philosophical Analysis

Author: Michelle Madden Dempsey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199562169
Published In: March 2009
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Sets prosecutorial discretion into a theoretical and philosophical framework, providing an original point of reference for philosophical investigation of prosecution
Employs tools of analytic jurisprudence to domestic violence prosecutions, which clarifies terms of the 'victimless' prosecution debates
Adopts a feminist approach to evaluating state action that aids understanding of how state action can be feminist, and when it ought to be
Provides analysis of concepts of patriarchy and feminism that clarifies what it means to be feminist
Examines discretion exercised by executive branch state actors and moves away from the traditional focus of judicial discretion in analytic jurisprudence
What should public prosecutors do when victims withdraw support for domestic violence prosecutions? The answer to this question that motivates the investigation undertaken in this book defends the claim that (other things being equal) domestic violence prosecutors should respond as feminists.

This claim is intended as a provocative formulation of the proposition that domestic violence prosecutors should act for reasons generated by the value of reconstituting communities as less patriarchal.

This thesis is defended first by developing a general theory of prosecutorial practical reasoning, and then by considering the prosecution of domestic violence offences in particular. Along the way, this book provides an original account of the nature of prosecutorial action, the values that can be realised through such action, and the relationship between these values and the practical reasoning of criminal prosecutors.

Moreover, it provides original analyses of two key concepts, domestic violence and patriarchy, and explains the relevance of the latter to a proper understanding of the former.

These insights are put to work in answering the motivating question stated above, and provide answers both in terms of what prosecutors would be justified in doing, and what prosecutors should do in order to be effective

Readership: Legal academics, state actors, and feminist theorists.

Part I Some Preliminary Considerations
1: Introduction
2: Wrong Turns on the Way to an Answer
Part II A Fresh Start
3: Prosecutors: What They Are and What They Do
4: Prosecutorial Action and Value
5: Reasons for Prosecutors
Part III Considering Domestic Violence
6: What Counts as Domestic Violence?
7: Patriarchy
8: Domestic-violence Prosecution: Justification and Effectiveness
9: Victims and Prosecutions
10: Conclusion

Michelle Madden Dempsey, Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford

"This book is a valuable addition to the domestic violence literature and undoubtedly adds a fresh dimension to what has hitherto been a somewhat narrow debate about what constitutes an 'effective' domestic violence prosecution." - Mandy Burton, University of Leicester, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 24(1)