This book addresses the intersection of two current major concerns in Australia: law and justice responses to domestic violence - including harsher punitive measures - and the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in the criminal justice system, which are similar concerns in New Zealand, Canada and the US. Nancarrow re-conceptualises typologies of violence and provides a means of understanding and explaining female use of violence without undermining the hard-won gains of the women¿s movement. It does, however, argue for a paradigm shift, which has implications for every aspect of the system we have built to stop men¿s violence against women (law, police policy and practice, counselling and advocacy for victims, and interventions for those who perpetrate violence). The book is based on quantitative and qualitative research and explores the nature of Indigenous intimate partner violence and the types of violence that domestic violence law sought to address.

Heather Nancarrow is Chief Executive Officer of Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS). She has 35 years' experience in research, policy and practice in the violence against women field, including extensive work with Indigenous Australian communities, whose experiences of violence and the criminal justice system feature in this book. She completed her PhD at Griffith University, Australia. 

1. Introduction: The Problem In Context.- 2. Conceptualising Intimate Partner Violence.- 3. Gendered Aspirations In Domestic Violence Law.- 4. Sex And Race Differences In Law's Application.- 5. Explanations Of Indigenous Violence And Recidivism.- 6. Reconceptualising Typologies Of Violence.- 7. Gendered And Racialised Power And The Law.- 8. Conclusions And Implications.