The Politicization of Safety
Domestic violence is commonly assumed to be a bipartisan, nonpolitical issue, with politicians welcoming headlines saying they are working against family violence. Nevertheless, the Violence Against Women Act expired for over 500 days between 2012 and 2013 due to disagreements between the U.S. Senate and House, demonstrating that legal protections for survivors of domestic abuse are both highly political and highly vulnerable. Racial and gender politics, the move toward criminalization, reproductive justice concerns, gun control debates, and other factors and political interests are increasingly shaping responses to domestic violence, demonstrating the necessity for a true understanding of the dynamic between politics, domestic violence, and the law. The Politicization of Safety will provide a critical historical perspective on domestic violence responses in the United States. It will grapple with the ways in which child welfare systems and civil and criminal justice responses intersect, and considers the different, overlapping ways in which survivors of domestic abuse are forced to cope with institutionalized discrimination, including arenas of race, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status, not to mention cases of police-perpetrated domestic abuse.