DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
EDITED BY ERIKA HINKLE, RILEY SMITH, & SEAN WORLEY
I. INTRODUCTION.......................................... 439
II. CURRENT ORGANIZATION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
A. FEDERAL LAWS RELATING TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ............ 442
1. The Violence Against Women Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
a. Immigrant Women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
b. LGBTQIAþIndividuals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
c. Native Americans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
d. Ongoing Criticisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
2. The Lautenberg Amendment .......................... 451
3. Title IX ............................................ 455
B. STATE LAW RELATING TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE .............. 455
1. Criminal Law of Domestic Violence ................... 455
a. Statutory Organization of Domestic Violence Crimes 456
b. Battered Woman Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
i. Criticism of BWS Testimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
ii. Legal Consequences of BWS for Male and
LGBTQIAþSurvivors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
c. Law Enforcement and Protection Policies . . . . . . . . . 463
i. Warrantless Arrests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
ii. Mandatory Arrests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
iii. No-Drop Prosecutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
iv. Mandatory No-Contact Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
v. Mandatory Reporting by Health Care
Professionals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
2. Civil Lawsuits and Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
a. Civil Protection Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
b. Tort Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
c. Domestic Violence Resources and Child Custody . . . 473
III. CONCERNS AND TRENDS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAW .............. 475
A. EDUCATION AND ADVANCEMENT ......................... 475
B. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE DIGITAL AGE .................. 476
IV. CONCLUSION ........................................... 480
I. INTRODUCTION
Domestic violence is a problem that affects millions of people regardless of
race, gender, ethnic group, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or age. In
the United States, an estimated twenty-four percent of adult women and fourteen
percent of men have experienced an act of severe physical intimate partner
439
violence within their lifetime.
1
Domestic Violence Statistics, NAT’L DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE, https://perma.cc/HU4K-
D5J3.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that
there were 951,930 incidents of violent crime perpetrated by intimate partners in
2022.
2
Alexandra Thompson & Susannah N. Tapp, Criminal Victimization, 2022, Bureau of Jus.
Statistics, U.S. DEP’T OF JUST. (Sept. 2023), https://perma.cc/X5FH-FY3M.
Throughout this Article, “domestic violence” will be used interchangeably
with “intimate partner violence.”
3
Intimate partner violence is “a pattern of
behavior where one intimate partner coerces, dominates, or isolates another inti-
mate partner to maintain power and control over the partner and the relation-
ship.”
4
Beverly Tillery, Audacia Ray, Eliel Cruz, & Emily Waters, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,
Queer and HIV-Affected Hate and Intimate Partner Violence in 2017, NAT’L COAL. OF ANTI-VIOLENCE
PROGRAMS, 36 (2018), https://perma.cc/3TEV-KVJC.
Domestic violence, in comparison, encompasses violence between
spouses or partners, siblings, parents, and other relatives in a domestic situation.
5
The Language We Use, WOMEN AGAINST ABUSE, https://perma.cc/Z25G-93FX.
Although domestic violence usually involves violent physical attacks, it may also
include psychological, economic, and sexual abuse, as well as attempts to isolate
the abused partner.
6
What is Domestic Violence?, OFFICE ON VIOLENCE ON WOMEN, U.S. DEP’T OF JUST. (Dec. 2023),
https://perma.cc/5RTL-SB3R.
The effects of domestic violence extend beyond the domestic
context and the relationship itself.
7
Although domestic violence predominantly involves men victimizing women,
it can take other forms: women also perpetrate violence against men, and
LGBTQIAþrelationships can be similarly characterized by abusive patterns.
8
A
2020 study measured “IPV-related impacts” on LGBTQþpeople — referring to
reports of “fear, concern for safety, symptoms of PTSD, injury, need for medical
care, need for housing services, need for victim’s advocate services, need for
legal services, contacting a crisis hotline, missing at least one day of work or
school, contracting a sexually transmitted infection” and pregnancy resulting
from sexual violence, physical violence, stalking, or other forms of violence by
1.
2.
3. See, e.g., Leonard D. Pertnoy, Same Violence, Same Sex, Different Standard: An Examination of
Same-Sex Domestic Violence and the Use of Expert Testimony on Battered Woman’s Syndrome in Same-
Sex Domestic Violence Cases, 24 ST. THOMAS L. REV. 544, 547 (2012) (explaining that the term
domestic violence does not necessarily denote a specific type of relationship and is recognized as
encompassing relationships and individual partners who may differ with respect to “marital status,
sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, cohabitation, sexual behavior or other attributes of the
partners and/or their relationship.”) [hereinafter Same-Sex Domestic Violence Cases].
4.
5.
6.
7. See, e.g., Domestic Violence Statistics, supra note 1(“[Ninety-six percent] of employed domestic
violence victims experience problems at work because of the abuse.”).
8. Gendered language is used throughout this Article in part because of its history and current usage
in domestic violence law, especially with respect to Battered Woman Syndrome, and in part, for clarity
and convenience. This is not to suggest that intimate partner violence does not occur in same-sex
relationships or that a woman cannot perpetrate it against a man. See also Same-Sex Domestic Violence
Cases, supra note 3, at 547 (explaining that “men and women both receive and inflict violence, and that
violence occurs in a wide range of relationships”).
440 THE GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF GENDER AND THE LAW [Vol. 26:439
an intimate partner.
9
Approximately seventy-four percent of heterosexual women, sev-
enty-two percent of bisexual women, and sixty-six percent of lesbian women reported
experiencing at least one IPV-related impact in their lifetime, and approximately
thirty-five percent of heterosexual, thirty-seven percent of bisexual, and fifty-one
percent of gay men reported at least one IPV-related impact in their lifetime.
10
Part II of this Article will examine domestic violence law at both the federal
and state level. On the federal level, it will discuss (1) the federal Violence
Against Women Act (VAWA) and its efforts to extend protection to immigrant
women, LGBTQIAþindividuals, and Native American women; (2) the Lautenberg
Amendment, which prohibits people convicted of domestic violence from possess-
ing a gun; and (3) Title IX, which imposes requirements on colleges when handling
sexual assault and sexual harassment claims. Part II will also discuss state criminal
and civil domestic violence statutes. Part III will discuss the development of domes-
tic violence law and the gaps that remain. This includes a discussion of gender and
cultural biases that survivors continue to face in court as of 2024, despite movements
like #MeToo increasing public awareness of domestic and intimate partner violence.
Part III concludes with a discussion of threats that survivors encounter in a digital
age, including harassment through GPS and phone messages, developments in
which are leading some legislatures to implement laws against cyberstalking and
nonconsensual pornography.
II. CURRENT ORGANIZATION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAW
The majority of domestic violence law is state law.
11
Most of the federal law
applicable to domestic violence is found in the various iterations of the Violence
Against Women Act (VAWA).
12
In 1994, VAWA became the first federal statute
aimed directly at combating gender-related violence.
13
The bulk of VAWA’s pro-
visions constructed funding streams to support local resources for survivors of
domestic violence, generated ways to prevent domestic violence, and commis-
sioned research to better understand the dynamics of domestic violence.
14
Subsequent versions of VAWA incorporated changes to substantive law as well,
including a controversial “civil rights remedy” that was struck down by the
Supreme Court in United States v. Morrison.
15
9. Jieru Chen, Mikel L. Walters, Leah K. Gilbert, & Nimesh Patel, Sexual Violence, Stalking, and
Intimate Partner Violence by Sexual Orientation, United States, PSYCHOLOGY OF VIOLENCE, 10(1), 110–
19, 115 (2020).
10. Id. at 116–17.
11. See e.g., United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 618 (2000) (holding that “the regulation ...of
intrastate violence not directed at the instrumentalities, channels, or goods involved in interstate
commerce has always been the province of the States”).
12. See generally Robin Runge, The Evolution of a National Response to Violence Against Women,
24 HASTINGS WOMEN’S L.J. 429 (2013) (examining the past and current versions of VAWA).
13. See id. at 429 (noting that VAWA 1994 was “the first comprehensive legislative effort to create a
national response to the epidemic of violence against women”).
14. See id. at 431.
15. See Morrison, 529 U.S. at 627.
2025] DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 441
