CONFRONTING TENSIONS BETWEEN STATE INVOLVEMENT IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES AND SURVIVOR AUTONOMY
Since the first laws were passed requiring mandatory arrest and other state involvement in domestic violence cases some 30 years ago, social conditions and system responses have changed a good deal. As a result, the landscape looks different today than when we first advocated for certain approaches, and survivors needs have changed as well. This knowledge has caused those advocating for survivors to rethink our well-intentioned but sometimes paternalistic models and approaches to supporting survivors’ efforts to escape abuse and attain safety, and re-evaluate the policies that developed in the early years of the movement. This workshop will critique where we came from and where are headed as an anti-violence movement, address the policy implications of this, and present an overview of the legal options for survivors outside of the criminal legal system.