The past two decades have seen a succession of reforms to sexual assault laws in all Australian jurisdictions. This book examines how effective these reforms have been in light of the fact that such changes challenge the "traditional" social norms of the legal system: male dominance, acceptability of male violence, and women's responsibility for male violence. Has a better balance been struck between the rights of victims to protection, assistance, and compensation and the rights of accused to a fair trial and preservation of the presumption of innocence? And what still remains to be done? These and many other questions are those explored by the contributors.
Arguing that law must be looked at holistically, this book investigates the ‘hidden gender’ of the so-called neutral or objective legal principles that structure the law addressing violence against women. Adopting an explicitly feminist perspective, it investigates how legal responses to violence against women presuppose, maintain and perpetuate a certain context that may not in fact reflect women’s experiences. Carline and Easteal draw upon relevant legislation, case law and secondary studies from a range of territories, including Australia, England and Wales, the United States, Canada and Europe, to contextualize and critique different policy responses. They go on to examine the potential and limits of law, making recommendations for best practice models of policymaking and law reform. Aiming to help improve government, community and legal responses to women who experience violence, Shades of Grey – Domestic and Sexual Violence Against Women: Law Reform and Society will assist law-makers, academics, policymakers and a wider audience in understanding the complexities of violence against women.
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