Intimate Partner Violence and Women Offenders

Although historically conceptualized as a “gendered” crime with men as the abusers and women as the abused, the number of women arrested for intimate partner violence (IPV) has risen sharply in recent decades. This chapter reviews criminal legal policies regarding IPV, with a focus on how these policies impact women offenders. We provide a historical overview of the criminal legal responses to IPV including policy changes over time. We then review research regarding law enforcement, prosecutorial, and judicial responses to IPV, with a particular focus on the differential impact of specific policies (e.g., mandatory arrest) on women offenders. Finally, we highlight gaps in the current knowledge and offer suggestions for future research to inform policy reform.