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112 Law Libr. J. 457 (2020)
Abetting Batterers: What Police, Prosecutors and Courts Aren't Doing to Protect America's Women

handle is hein.journals/llj112 and id is 457 raw text is: KEEPING UP WITH NEW LEGAL TITLES Klein, Andrew R., and Jessica L. Klein, Abetting Batterers: What Police, Prosecutors, and Courts Aren't Doing to Protect America's Women, Updated Edition. Lan- ham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020. 308p. $38. Reviewed by Genevieve P Nicholson* ¶49 America has a domestic violence problem. Old cultural norms held men responsible for their households and made it their right, or duty even, to disci- pline their wives to maintain household order. These norms also placed a high value on marriage and granted privacy to domestic matters to aid the preservation of marriage, with the consequence of shielding domestic violence. Although by the late 1970s legislators across the country had begun to enact laws to address domes- tic violence, the present-day culture and the criminal justice system still largely fail to protect domestic violence victims and punish abusers. ¶50 Abetting Batterers: What Police, Prosecutors, and Courts Aren't Doing to Protect America's Women details the evolution of American laws, policies, and prac- tices regarding domestic violence. While the book provides historical context and addresses victim advocacy and legislative efforts, it focuses primarily on trends in policing, prosecution, and sentencing over the past 30 years. The book is arranged thematically and is meticulously researched. The authors weave statistics and case narratives from multiple jurisdictions into each section to illustrate the real-world effects of various policies and to evaluate their efficacy. ¶51 The chapters on policing, prosecution, and sentencing offer a general analysis of the three phases of the criminal justice system and detailed insight into selected topics specific to each phase. The policing chapter highlights issues associated with strangulation, stalking, dual arrests, and LGBTQ+ victims. The prosecution chapter examines practices related to plea bargains, diversion programs, victimless prosecu- tions, and bail. The sentencing chapter discusses parity in sentencing, supervision related to probation or parole, and the tendency to treat battering as if it were an addiction or a mental illness. Analysis of each topic centers on how different laws, policies, and practices either make victims safer or put them at greater risk. ¶52 In the last quarter of Abetting Batterers, the authors propose areas of change that could most benefit domestic violence victims. They focus on three action items of the highest priority: preventing abusers' access to guns, changing child custody policies to make victim safety, rather than maintaining family unity, the primary goal, and keeping the criminal justice system's attention on domestic violence issues. The book was originally published in 2016, and this updated edition includes a brief after- word that warns how the Trump administration has threatened the progress that has been made on domestic violence prevention. This warning echoes the overarching theme of Abetting Batterers-how the attitudes of police officers, prosecutors, and judges toward domestic violence affect cultural norms. If domestic abuse carries a lighter sentence than shoplifting, how can society view it as a real crime? If batterers are released on bail, allowed access to guns, sentenced to probation and counseling instead of incarceration, and freely given custodial rights to their children, how can society view them as criminals who pose a danger? For our cultural norms to shift, the authors argue, we need engaged police officers, prosecutors, and judges commit- ted to making (and keeping) domestic violence prevention a priority. * © Genevieve P. Nicholson, 2020. Director of Research and Knowledge Services, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP, Phoenix, Arizona. Vol. 112:4 [2020-151 457

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