NCJ Number
190212
Journal
Caribbean Journal of Criminology and Social Psychology Volume: 5 Issue: 1&2 Dated: January/July 2000 Pages: 1-39
Date Published
2000
Length
39 pages
Annotation
This cross-national study examined the practices of magistrates in cases of domestic violence in Barbados (West Indies) and New York (United States).
Abstract
Three thematic propositions were explored: sociological strain theory (anomie); family violence theory (familism); and feminist theory. Interview and survey responses were analyzed to assess the manner by which action in cases of domestic violence communicated court values to two particular communities -- one in Rockland County, New York and one in Barbados. It was hypothesized that during periods of social change, court action on domestic violence would be evenly distributed across the three themes -- familism, anomie, and feminism. This suggested that traditional norms of familism competed with new norms of feminism, and were mediated by a mixed, anomic center. In Rockland County, New York, 33 surveys were mailed and the response rate was 21 percent. Magistrates in Rockland were white and male. In Barbados, 12 surveys were mailed with a rate of return of 58 percent. Magistrates in Barbados were mostly women. Results showed that when one looked at jurisdiction -- Rockland vs. Barbados -- for Barbados, familism and feminism were almost equal in influence. Measures of anomie in Barbados appeared quite low. It is speculated that a gender war was quite polarized on the island. When one took gender of the magistrate into consideration, interestingly it was women, who were exclusively Barbadian, who ranked familism first, and then feminism as influences in decision making. White magistrates, exclusively male and North American, preferred familism as a dominant theme. It was ironic that an alleged “developing” nation, such as Barbados, gathered superior data on incidents of domestic violence than were available from a so-called “advanced” criminal justice system in metropolitan New York. Findings suggested that social norms concerning violence against women were split quite evenly across three phases of influence -- the past (familism); the future (feminism); and the uncertain in between (anomie). 1 figure, 2 appendices, 14 endnotes, 192 references