Moving Beyond a Reliance on Criminal Legal Strategies to Address the Root Causes of Domestic and Sexual Violence

Abstract

This article is intended to support discussions about how to effectively address domestic and sexual violence. It proposes the following key strategies: expanding beyond police, courts, and prisons; adopting upstream approaches to address the social, structural, institutional, and historical drivers of violence; and using evidence-based strategies to prevent violence from happening in the first place. Comparing the United States, South Africa, India, and Brazil, the article makes the case that advocates working to address domestic and sexual violence have relied too heavily on criminal legal sanctions. Not only does this result in unmet needs of both survivors and their communities but it also expands the repressive powers of police and prosecutors and contributes to steadily growing levels of incarceration. The article concludes by calling for services that better meet the needs of survivors and for the rapid scale-up of prevention strategies, both evidence-based interventions and legal and policy approaches that address the root causes of men's violence.