STEVE BASILE'S GROUNDBREAKING FATHERHOOD COALITION STUDY OF 209A RESTRAINING ORDERS IN GARDNER DISTRICT COURT

The second phase of the study has been published by the Journal of Family Violence, June 2005. The study is available online to subscribers of the Journal, but it is also available for individual purchase.

Issue: Volume 20, Number 3,  June 2005

A Measure of Court Response to Requests for Protection

By Steve Basile, Fatherhood Coalition, Milford, Massachusetts

Abstract  

Are male victims of domestic violence provided the same protections as female victims? With increasing entanglement of custody and domestic violence law, the answer to this question is critical for fathers embroiled in disputes where allegations are sometimes made to secure custody of children. All non-impounded requests for Abuse Prevention Orders initiated in Massachusetts Gardner District Court, in the year 1997, involving opposite gender litigants were analyzed to determine if court response to the associated allegations is affected by the gender of those litigants. These orders were previously examined and male and female defendants were found similarly abusive. By studying the characteristics of each case, and overall court response at court hearings, a determination is made concerning any evident gender trends in the aggregate court response to requests for protection. Despite gender-neutral language of abuse prevention law (M.G.L. c. 209A), application of that law favors female plaintiffs.

The first part of the study has been published by the Journal of Family Violence, Issue 1, February 2004.  The study is available online to subscribers of the Journal, but is also available for individual purchase. 

Comparison of Abuse Alleged by Same- and Opposite-Gender Litigants as Cited in Requests for Abuse Prevention Orders

By Steve Basile, Fatherhood Coalition, Milford, Massachusetts

Abstract

Domestic violence is commonly portrayed as something male batterers do to their female victims. Much research excludes study of female-perpetrated violence. This study develops a two-gender measure of abuse as documented by requests for protection. All nonimpounded Abuse Prevention Orders (M.G.L. c. 209A) issued in Massachusetts' Gardner District Court in the year 1997 were analyzed by gender to examine the level and types of violence alleged by plaintiffs. The level and types of violence were categorized and measured by examining Abuse Claimed Checkboxes found on each Complaint for Protection and by applying quantitative scales to affidavits, or plaintiff statements, filed as part of each request for protection. Despite widespread misconceptions that tend to minimize female abuse, examination of these court documents shows that male and female defendants, who were the subject of a complaint in domestic relation cases, while sometimes exhibiting different aggressive tendencies, measured almost equally abusive in terms of the overall level of psychological and physical aggression.

Journal of Family Violence, 19 (1): 59-68, February 2004

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