NCJ Number
146409
Journal
Violence Update Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1993), 1-2, 4,10
Date Published
1993
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This issue of Violence Update contains articles entitled "Advocacy Services for Battered Women," "New Perspectives on Mothers of Sexually Abused Children," and "Preparing a Child for Court"; a list of recent publications; and reviews of selected books of the month.
Abstract
Responses to a national survey of 379 battered women's advocacy programs show that advocate provide such diverse services as transportation, child counseling, women's support groups, and community education. Advocates emphasized their work with individual battered women over their efforts to effect structural changes, because of the immediacy and severity of their clients' circumstances. Therapists observe that, in child sexual abuse cases. the mother's treatment needs are crucial to family recovery and the prevention of further abuse. Recent studies do not support the assertion that mothers typically collude in cases of father-daughter incest. Another research conclusion is that police action by itself aggravates abusive situations, but, in coordination with other criminal justice efforts, becomes a significant deterrent. A report on a child sexual abuse case highlights the difficulties of getting the child victim to testify in a credible manner, and the necessity of doing so. A book author sets forth an observation that the creation of battered women's shelters reflects the historical tendency to institutionalize women to solve their problems.