Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Do We See Victims’ Agency? Criminal Justice and Gender Violence in Spain

  • Published:
Critical Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Spanish criminal justice system has a specific Law for Gender Violence (1/2004). This article addresses what happens when a law with a feminist perspective is implemented in a predominantly patriarchal institution. The main aim of this paper is to approach women’s experiences in the Spanish criminal justice system, analysed as a technology of power producing women’s subjectivities, and focusing on their agency. We used a qualitative methodology with participant observation (24 sessions) and in-depth interviews with professionals working with gender violence (17) and women who reported gender violence by their heterosexual partner (11 individual and 1 group). We analysed data with the qualitative analysis software Atlas.ti. The results focus on subjective processes and agency among reporting violence, the expedited trial, protection and restraining orders, and probation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The end of the fieldwork coincided with the enactment of Law 5/2008, an expanson of the 1/2004 law at the regional level.

  2. Excerpts are identified by a number (correlative to the person), the person’s category, and the data collection method. [#32 Woman (GI)] stands for person #32; Woman means Woman who has denounced violence, with diverse psychosocial factors and (GI) means Group Interview. Take a look at Tables to keep track of the persons, categories and data collection methods.

  3. No-drop policies require prosecution of a gender violence perpetrator, regardless of the victim’s wishes, and often force the victim to participant in the prosecutional process.

  4. Victim choice policies are based on her decision to continue or not with the perpetrator’s prosecution.

References

  • Albertín, P., Cubells, J., & Calsamiglia, A. (2009). Algunas propuestas psicosociales para abordar el tratamiento de la violencia hacia las mujeres en los contextos jurídico-penales. Anuario De Psicología Jurídica, 19(111), 123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amigot, P. (2005). Relaciones de poder, espacio subjetivo y prácticas de libertad: Análisis genealógico de un proceso de transformación de género. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

  • Anderson, D. K., & Saunders, D. G. (2003). Leaving an abusive partner: An empirical review of predictors, the process of leaving, and psychological well-being. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 4(2), 163–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barata, P. C. (2007). Abused women’s perspectives on the criminal justice system’s response to domestic violence. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31(2), 202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belknap, J. (2010). Offending women: A double entendre. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 100, 1061.

  • Belknap, J., & Mcdonald, C. (2010). Judges’ attitudes about and experiences with sentencing circles in intimate-partner abuse cases. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 52(4), 369–395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, M. E., Perez, S., Goodman, L. A., & Dutton, M. A. (2011). Battered women’s perceptions of civil and criminal court helpfulness: The role of court outcome and process. Violence Against Women, 17(1), 71–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, L., Goodman, L. A., & Dutton, M. A. (1999). Systemic obstacles to the criminal prosecution of a battering partner: A victim perspective. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14(7), 761–772.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berns, N. (2001). Degendering the problem and gendering the blame: Political discourse on women and violence. Gender Society, 15(2), 262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodelón, E. (2012). Violencia de género y las respuestas de los sistemas penales. Barcelona: Didot.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bott, S., Morrison, A., & World Bank. (2005). Preventing and responding to gender-based violence in middle and low-income countries. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burman, M. (2010). The ability of criminal law to produce gender equality: Judicial discourses in the Swedish criminal legal system. Violence Against Women, 16(2), 173–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1997). Mecanismos psíquicos del poder. Teorías sobre la sujeción. Madrid: Cátedra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (2001). El género en disputa. El feminismo y la subversión de la identidad. México: Paidós.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzawa, E. S., & Buzawa, C. G. (2003). Domestic violence: The criminal justice response. London: SAGE Publications.

  • Buzawa, E. S., & Buzawa, A. D. (2008). Courting Domestic Violence Victims: A Tale of Two Cities*. Criminology & Public Policy, 7(4), 671–685. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2008.00534.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buzawa, E., Hotaling, G., & Klein, A. (1998a). The response to domestic violence in a model court: Some initial findings and implications. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 16(2), 185–206. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0798(199821)16:2<185:AID-BSL306>3.0.CO.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buzawa, E., Hotaling, G., & Klein, A. (1998b). What happens when a reform works? The need to study unanticipated consequences of mandatory processing of domestic violence. The Official Journal of the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology, 13(2), 43–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02806712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cattaneo, L. B., & Goodman, L. A. (2010). Through the lens of therapeutic jurisprudence: The relationship between empowerment in the court system and well-being for intimate partner violence victims. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25(3), 481–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cattaneo, L. B., Goodman, L. A., Epstein, D., Kohn, L. S., & Zanville, H. A. (2009). The victim-informed prosecution project: A quasi-experimental test of a collaborative model for cases of intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 15(10), 1227–1247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesney-Lind, M. (2006). Patriarchy, crime, and justice feminist criminology in an era of backlash. Feminist Criminology, 1(1), 6–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comas, M. (2005). Poder judicial y violencia doméstica ¿Qué hemos logrado? ¿Qué debemos lograr? In Consejo General del Poder Judicial (Ed.) La violencia doméstica: Su enfoque en España y en el derecho comparado (pp. 13–52). Madrid.

  • Cubells, J., & Calsamiglia, A. (2010). Transitando por los espacios jurídico-penales: Discursos sociales e implicaciones para la intervención en casos de violencia hacia la mujer. Acciones e Investigaciones Sociales, 28, 79–108.

  • Cubells, J., Albertín, P., & Calsamiglia, A. (2008). Una aproximación psicosocial a la valoración sobre la aplicación de la ley orgánica 1/2004, de 28 de diciembre, de medidas de protección integral contra la violencia de género. Revista De Derecho y Proceso Penal, 20, 43–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cubells, J., Albertín, P., & Calsamiglia, A. (2010a). El ejercicio profesional en el abordaje de la violencia de género en el ámbito jurídico-penal: Un análisis psicosocia. Anales De Psicología, 26(2), 369–377.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cubells, J., Albertín, P., Rusiñol, E., & Hernáez, M. (2006). Navegant entre narracions: Recupernt silencis i subjectivitats. recursos psicosocials en l’atenció a víctimes de violència de gènere en l’àmbit penal. Barcelona: Centre d’Estudis Jurídics i Formació Especialitzada. Available from www.gencat.cat/justicia/cejfe/.

  • Cubells, J., Calsamiglia, A., & Albertín, P. (2009). Análisis psicosocial del ejercicio profesional en el ámbito jurídico en el abordaje de la violencia machista. XI Congreso De Psicología Social.

  • Cubells, J., Calsamiglia, A., & Albertín, P. (2010b). Sistema y subjetividad: Sobre la invisibilización de la diferencia en la intervención contra la violencia machista. Quaderns De Psicologia, 12(2), 195–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damant, D. (2000). Process analysis of empowerment in the trajectories of female victims of conjugal violence through the judicial system. Criminologie, 33(1), 73–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • DePrince, A. P., & Belknap, J. (2012). The impact of victim-focused outreach on criminal legal system outcomes following police-reported intimate partner abuse: Reply to the Commentaries. Violence Against Women, 18(8), 906–912. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801212456988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobash, R. P., & Dobash, R. E. (2004). Women’s violence to men in intimate relationships: Working on a puzzle. British Journal of Criminology, 44(3), 324–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, J. L., & Powell-Williams, M. (2007). “Everybody makes choices”: Victim advocates and the social construction of battered women’s victimization and agency. Violence Against Women, 13(10), 977–1001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, L. (2002). Prosecuting domestic violence without victim participation. The Modern Law Review, 65(6), 834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, L., & King, G. (2002). The rules of inference. The University of Chicago Law Review, 69(1), 1–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erez, E., & Belknap, J. (1998). In their own words: Battered women’s assessment of the criminal processing system’s responses. Violence and Victims, 13(3), 251–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felson, R. B. (2008). The legal consequences of intimate partner violence for men and women. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(6), 639–646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2008.01.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleury, R. E. (2002). Missing voices: Patterns of battered women’s satisfaction with the criminal legal system. Violence Against Women, 8(2), 181–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford, D. A. (2003). Coercing victim participation in domestic violence prosecutions. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18(6), 669–684.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford, D. A., & Regoli, M. J. (1992). The preventive impacts of policies for prosecuting wife batterers. In E. S. Buzawa & C. G. Buzawa (Eds.), Domestic violence: The changing criminal justice response (pp. 181–207). Westport, CT: Greenwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1966). Las palabras y las cosas. Madrid: Siglo XXI, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1976). Vigilar y castigar: Nacimiento de la prisión. Mexico: Siglo XXI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganapathy, N. (2006). Between the devil and the deep-blue sea: Conceptualising victims’ experiences of policing in domestic violence in the Singaporean context. The Australian New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 39(1), 90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garvin, M., & Garvin, M. (2012). Harmony or discord between victim agency and the criminal justice system. Violence Against Women, 18(8), 889–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gauthier, S. (2010). The perceptions of judicial and psychosocial interveners of the consequences of dropped charges in domestic violence cases. Violence Against Women, 16(12), 1375–1395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giberti, E., Fernández, A. M., & Bonder, G. (1989). La mujer y la violencia invisible. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gil, R., Lloret, E. P., Ayter, I., & Pujal, L. M. (2007). La violencia de género. Barcelona: UoC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillis, J., Diamond, S., Jebely, P., Orekhovsky, V., Ostovich, E., MacIsaac, K., et al. (2006). Systemic obstacles to battered women’s participation in the judicial system: When will the status quo change? Violence Against Women, 12(12), 1150–1168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, L. A., Bennett, L., & Dutton, M. A. (1999). Obstacles to victims’ cooperation with the criminal prosecution of their abusers: The role of social support. Violence and Victims, 14(4), 427–444.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gover, A. R. (2007). A specialized domestic violence court in South Carolina: An example of procedural justice for victims and defendants. Violence Against Women, 13(6), 603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grauwiler, P. A. (2007). The voices of women: Perspectives on domestic violence policy and practice. New York: New York University, Ph.D.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hague, G., & Mullender, A. (2006). Who listens? The voices of domestic violence survivors in service provision in the United Kingdom. Violence Against Women, 12(6), 568–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haimovich, P. (1990). El concepto de los malos tratos. ideología y representaciones sociales. In V. Maquieira & C. Sánchez (Eds.), Violencia y sociedad patriarcal (1st ed., pp. 81–104). Madrid: Pablo Iglesias.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare, S. C. (2006). What do battered women want? Victims’ opinions on prosecution. Violence and Victims, 21(5), 611–628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, J. L., & Belknap, J. (2003). Beyond the gatekeepers: Court professionals’ self-reported attitudes about and experiences with misdemeanor domestic violence cases. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 30(3), 349–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschel, D. (2012). The Benefits of More “Victim-Focused” Coordinated Community Responses to Intimate Partner Violence. Violence Against Women, 18(8), 897–905. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801212456984.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Íñiguez, L., & Antaki, C. (1994). El análisis del discurso en psicología social. Boletín de Psicología, 44, 63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaime, M. A. (2006). La respuesta de las leyes a la violencia familiar. La violencia contra las mujeres: Realidad social y políticas públicas. Madrid: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jefferson, G. (1984). Transcription notation. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social interaction (pp. 158–166). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiménez Rodrigo, M. L., & Guzmán Ordaz, R. (2015). O caleidoscópio da violência contra as mulheres no casal a partir da desigualdade de gênero: Uma revisão de abordagens analíticas. The Kaleidoscope of Violence against Women in Union Based on Gender Inequality: A Review of Analytical Approaches, 2015(54), 93–106. https://doi.org/10.7440/res54.2015.07.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, I. M. (2007). Victims’ perceptions of police response to domestic violence incidents. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35(5), 498–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, M., & Batagol, B. (2010). Enforcer, manager or leader? The judicial role in family violence courts. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 33(5–6), 406–416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2010.09.011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koss, M. P. (2000). Blame, shame, and community: Justice responses to violence against women. American Psychologist, 55(11), 1332–1343. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.11.1332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • La Fond, J. Q., & Portwood, S. G. (2000). Preventing intimate violence: Have Law and public policy failed? UMKC Law Review, 69(1), 3–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larrauri, E. (2003). Motius per entendre per què algunes dones maltractades retiren les denúncies. Fòrum. La Revista Del Centre d’Estudis Jurídics i Formació Especialitzada, I(2), 24–29.

  • Larrauri, E. (2005). ¿Se debe proteger a la mujer contra su voluntad? Cuadernos Penales José María Lidón, 2, 157–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larrauri, E. (2007). Criminología crítica y violencia de género. Madrid: Trotta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leisenring, A. (2004). Battered women and identity work: Negotiating agency, responsibility, and justice with the state. Ph.D.: University of Colorado at Boulder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Littleton, C. A. (1989). Feminist jurisprudence: The difference method makes. Stanford Law Review, 41, 751–784.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, C. A. (1987). Feminism unmodified: Discourses on life and law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maqueda, M. L. (2006). La violencia contra las mujeres: Una revisión crítica a la reforma penal de 2004. In Instituto Andaluz de la Mujer (Ed.), Mujer, violencia y derecho (1st ed., pp. 123–137). Cádiz: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cádiz.

  • McDermott, J. M., & Garofalo, J. (2004). When advocacy for domestic violence victims backfires: Types and sources of victim disempowerment. Violence Against Women, 10(11), 1245–1266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McPhail, B. A. (2007). An integrative feminist model—The evolving feminist perspective on intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 13(8), 817.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mills, L. G. (1996). Intuition and insight: A new job description for the battered woman’s prosecutor and other more modest proposals. UCLA Women’s LJ, 7, 183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, L. G. (2003). Insult to injury: Rethinking our responses to intimate abuse. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner, J. (1997). Research evaluation of programmes for violent men—Dobash, R, Dobash, R, Cavanagh, K, Lewis, R. British Journal of Social Work, 27(3), 462–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montalbán, I. (2004). Perspectiva de género: Criterio de interpretación internacional y constitucional. Madrid: Consejo General del Poder Judicial.

  • Montalbán, I. (2006). La ley integral contra la violencia de género 1/2004 como instumento normativo. balance de un año en el ámbito judicial. In Consejo General Del Poder Judicial (Ed.), La violencia de género: Ley de protección integral, implantación y estudio del a problemática de su desarrollo (pp. 13–60). Madrid: Consejo General del Poder Judicial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muñoz, J. (2005). Análisis cualitativo de datos textuales con ATLAS.ti 5. Available from http://antalya.uab.es/jmunoz/cuali/Atlas5.pdf.

  • Niemi-Kiesiläinen, J. (2006). Feminist policy against violence in Sweden. In U. V. Bundeson (Ed.), Law and morality (pp. 289–300). Copenhagen: Thomson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, F. (2000). El sexo del derecho. In A. Ruiz & C. Amorós (Eds.), Identidad femenina y discurso jurídico (1st ed., pp. 25–43). Buenos Aires: Biblos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ptacek, J. (1999). Battered women in the courtroom: The power of judicial responses. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pujal, M. (2003). La tarea critica: Interconexiones entre lenguaje, deseo y subjetividad: A partir del construccionismo social. Política y Sociedad, 40(1), 57–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renzetti, C. M. (1998). Connecting the dots: Women, public policy, and social control. In Sage (Ed.), Crime, control and women (pp. 181–189). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renzetti, C. M., & Curran, D. J. (2003). Women, men & society. Michigan: Michigan University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, N. R., & McKenzie, E. B. (1999). Why do battered women stay? Three decades of research. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 3(4), 391–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricoeur, P. (2000). Narratividad, fenomenología y hermenéutica. Anàlisi: Quaderns De Comunicació i Cultura, 25, 189–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, L. E., & Campbell, J. (2000). The role of social support and family relationships in women’s responses to battering. Health Care for Women International, 21(1), 27–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, A. (2000). La construcción jurídica de la subjetividad no es ajena a las mujeres. In H. Birgin (Ed.), El derecho en el género y el género en el derecho (1st ed., pp. 19–30). Buenos Aires: Biblos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, J. I. (2003). Metodología de la investigación cualitativa (3rd ed.). Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, A., & Amorós, C. (2000). Identidad femenina y discurso jurídico. Buenos Aires: Departamento de Publicaciones, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Buenos Aires: Editorial Biblos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, M., & Light, L. (2006). Police and victim perspectives on empowerment of domestic violence victims. Police Quarterly, 9(4), 375–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmal, N., & Camps, P. (2008) Repensando la relación entre la ley y la violencia hacia las mujeres. una aproximación a los discursos de los/las agentes del ámbito judicial en relación a la ley integral de violencia de género en España. In Psicoperspectivas (Vol. VII, pp. 32–58).

  • Schneider, E. M. (2000). Battered women & feminist lawmaking. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smart, C. (1994). La mujer del discurso jurídico. In E. Larrauri (Ed.), Mujeres, derecho penal y criminología (1st ed., pp. 167–189). Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smart, C. (1995). Law, crime and sexuality: Essays in feminism. London; Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolman, R. M., & Weisz, A. (1995). Coordinated community intervention for domestic violence: The effects of arrest and prosecution on recidivism of woman abuse perpetrators. Crime & Delinquency, 41(4), 481–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walby, S. (2004). The European Union and gender equality: Emergent varieties of gender regime. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 11(1), 4–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This article is based on two investigations funded by the Institut Català de les Dones (Catalan Institute for Women): [ICD U8/06 (2006–07)] Gender violence and criminal legal space: collective imagniaries and construction of subjectivities, and [ICD U37/08 (2008–09)] Intersection between gender, gender violence, and the law. The subjective experience of women in the criminal justice system.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Jenny Cubells & Andrea Calsamiglia

Authors
  1. Jenny Cubells
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrea Calsamiglia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jenny Cubells.

Additional information

This article starts from investigations into gender violence and the criminal justice system conducted by the Research Group SGR on Social and Gender Studies on Power and Subjectivity, of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The investigations were developed during the years 2006–2009 in Catalonia (north-western region in Spain), with the aim of studying the psychosocial aspects related to the implementation of the Spanish Law 1/2004. Measures of Integral Protection against Gender Violence (Law 1/2004. The original title of the law, in Spanish, is: Ley Orgánica 1/2004. de 28 de diciembre de 2004, de Medidas de Protección Integral contra la Violencia de Género. Ley Orgánica means Comprehensive Law, and the first is a sequential number, and the second is the year in which it was approved).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cubells, J., Calsamiglia, A. Do We See Victims’ Agency? Criminal Justice and Gender Violence in Spain. Crit Crim 26, 107–127 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-017-9379-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-017-9379-2

Search

Navigation