Edna Erez

University of Illinois at Chicago | UIC · Department of Criminology, Law, and Justice

Feminist criminologists have helped to criminalize domestic violence in the United States and elsewhere. With this significant accomplishment, scholars also have critiqued the intended and unintended consequences of such reliance on the state for women's safety. One such critique reveals the intersectionality of social inequalities, social identiti...

The article examines how court professionals interact with and manage victims in the wake of victim participatory reforms instituted within an adversarial legal model. Analysis is based on an examination of interviews with legal and allied professionals (n = 36) and victims-turned-activists (n = 7) from four jurisdictions in a US state about their...

This chapter traces the changing role of victims in an adversarial criminal justice system. Adopting a historical perspective, the authors examine the impact of victim-centred reforms aimed at improving victim participation in a criminal process not designed to accommodate them. The chapter considers why these reforms have not fully realised their...

Mixed couples face more marital conflict than endogamous couples. Drawing on intersectional theory and narrative victimology, this study examines women's accounts of abuse in mixed heterosexual Arab/Palestinian-Israeli Jewish intimate partnerships amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The narratives of 25 women formerly in an abusive relationship...

Mixed couples face more marital conflict than endogamous couples. Drawing on intersectional theory and narrative victimology, this study examines women’s accounts of abuse in mixed heterosexual Arab/Palestinian–Israeli Jewish intimate partnerships amid the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The narratives of 25 women formerly in an abusive relationship...

Drawing on a decade of research on terrorism in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, we show how subjective “rational choices” motivate some women to engage in terrorist activism. Focusing on the motives of young women who engage in terrorism is consistent with feminist theory’s insistence on women’s agency—even at the extremes. In addition to the wel...

Transnational Crimes among SomaliAmericans: Convergences of Radicalization and Trafficking

Recent years have witnessed the proliferation of victim-focused positions inside and outside the criminal justice system, yet little is known about the occupational characteristics and organizational context of this field in the United States. In this article, we draw on 42 semi-structured interviews with victim workers from a variety of settings a...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/09/06/domestic-violence/?utm_term=.3d5e2400fd62

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/09/06/domestic-violence/?utm_term=.3d5e2400fd62

The article presents the political, economic, and sociocultural factors that make Turkey an attractive destination for foreign sex workers, and reviews trends in official statistics of arrested traffickers, rescued victims, and deportation of migrant illegal sex workers. In-depth interviews of 20 law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations st...

Despite little evidence of an immigration-crime nexus, many American jurisdictions have adopted a punitive approach to undocumented immigrants and an increasingly restrictive and exclusive system of immigration control. The extensive deployment of criminal justice measures to address the immigration " problem " led to the growth of a crimmigration...

Adopting and expanding Black’s conception of terrorism as self-help, this study examines how Palestinian youth become involved in security violations. Based on an analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with 10 Palestinian youth incarcerated in Israeli prisons, their experiences are described, including the aftermath of arrest and imprisonment. T...

In contrast to works on victim advocacy in specific organizational contexts, this article introduces the term “victim work” to capture the vast array of victim-related roles and tasks that have proliferated in recent decades. Data are derived from in-depth interviews with 30 “victim workers” in public and private agencies in two Midwestern states....

Tools that facilitate the electronic monitoring of criminal justice populations are becoming widespread and multifaceted as they are adapted for a range of purposes and offender categories. In the past two decades, justice agencies across the United States have incorporated global positioning systems (GPS) to enforce no-contact orders in cases invo...

New Terrorism is increasingly deploying women in the field as combatants. Female suicide bombers have proven to be highly effective, precisely because of the persistence of gender stereotypes in target societies. Women terrorists convey a powerful message of political seriousness, heighten the sense of intimidation and threat, and attract greater m...

Academic discussion about surveillance tends to emphasize its proliferation, ubiquity, and impact on society, while neglecting to consider the continued relevance of traditional approaches to human supervision, an oversight insofar as surveillance is organized through practices embedded in justice system-based casework. Drawing from a multi-site st...

This article addresses the challenges posed by state intervention in a multicultural society characterized by intense political conflict, juxtaposing the voices of batterers, victims, community members, and the officials who are involved in policing domestic violence (DV) in the Arab community in Israel. A meta-analysis of interview-based data exce...

A recent article by Julian Roberts and Marie Manikis argues that the concept of “ancillary harm” explains why victim impact statements are useful at sentencing. Drawing on a recent decision from the Quebec Court of Appeals, they contend that impact statements help a judge assess foreseeable harm caused to a victim’s family member and others – “anci...

This article compares the background, motivation, pathways and prison experiences of Arab/Palestinian women who were imprisoned for conventional crimes with those who were incarcerated for security-related or terrorism offences. In-depth interviews of the two groups were conducted in the Israeli prisons in which they served their sentences. Prison...

Drawing on intersectionality theory, the article presents pathways of Arab/Palestinian in Israel to crime and imprisonment.The data base comprises of in-depth interviews of three groups: Arab/Palestinian women incarcerated in Israeli prisons for conventional offenses, law enforcement and corrections personnel, and Arab/Palestinian community leaders...

The article reviews the domestic and global social/cultural, economic and legal circumstances that create fertile grounds for human trafficking for commercial sex exploitation. It considers women’s and girls’ vulnerabilities that play a pivotal role in their sexual exploitation, and the intricate adverse conditions and obstacles encountered in the...

Purpose – This chapter outlines the challenges faced by immigrant women who are victimized by domestic violence. Methodology – Based on interviews conducted with female immigrants to the United States (N=137) who have sought help for domestic violence, and legal advocates and service providers who work with them (N=20). Findings – This chapter iden...

We examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the MMPI–2 Restructured Clinical (RC) scales in predicting relevant historical variables, treatment success, and recidivism in offenders enrolled in a batterers' intervention program. We used a sample studied previously by Petroskey, Ben-Porath, and Erez (2002)2. Ben-Porath , Y. S. . The role...

Suicide bombings require motivated individuals, organizations that foster and channel this motivation, and a cultural milieu that lauds the perpetrator as a hero or martyr. Anat Berko, International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism, Hertzliya, Israel, and Edna Erez, Kent State University, Ohio, interviewed seven Palestinian security prisoners...

Prior literature on women's participation in terrorism has paradoxically interpreted this involvement as a sign of women's newfound empowerment, and as an indication of ongoing gender oppression. The study examines the hypothesis that Palestinian women's involvement in terrorism indicates women's liberation. The data are derived from in-depth inter...

Abstract: The study presents Palestinian women’s involvement in terrorism and the way in which their security violations are processed by the Israeli justice system. The study is based on in-depth interviews of three groups involved in Palestinian terrorism or responses to it: first, Palestinian women who were arrested for security offenses; second...

The development of bilateral electronic monitoring (BEM) exemplifies how shifts in the "culture of control" (Garland, 2001), including a focus on domestic violence (DV) victims' emotional welfare and integration into proceedings, can alter abused partners' everyday lives. As a protective strategy, BEM provides DV victims with an alternative to relo...

This study examines perceptions of fairness and attitudes of offenders toward random assignment as compared to other selection methods used in evaluation research for allocating benefits or assigning inmates to programs. Three hundred and forty-eight inmates in three federal institutions were randomly selected and presented questionnaires which sur...

This article examines the structure of probation decision making on the perceived “need” level of probationers and the pursuant prescription of “treatment.” Although male and female probationers did not direr in their cumulative “need” level, significant differences by sex were found in the factors used by the probation officers to arrive at their...

Applying criminological/victimological concepts and theories, the study addresses the social processes involved in Palestinians' suicide terrorism and describes Palestinians' pathways to suicide bombing. The data are derived from in-depth interviews of 7 male and female Palestinians serving prison sentences in Israel for attempted suicide bombing....

This article discusses the electronic monitoring of domestic violence cases as a form of diversion. The data derive from a two and a half year study of two "bilateral" electronic monitoring programs geared towards domestic violence offenders, mostly defendants, and their former or current intimate partners. Analysis consists of an examination of ho...

The articles in the present issue of "International Review of Victimology" provide broad coverage of the problem of, and response to, sex trafficking, with special concentration on trafficking involving persons who originate from the former Soviet Republics and Eastern and Southeastern Europe and migrate into Western Europe and beyond. Only one art...

The criminal justice system has been using electronic monitoring for about 20 years, typically as a form of house arrest, an alternative sanction, or in the context of pretrial release. The authors examine the use of EM for victim protection in domestic violence cases.

The role of the victim in the sentencing process continues to generate controversy among scholars and practitioners across many jurisdictions. In this article we address some of the persistent objections to allowing victim input into sentencing. By placing the debate on victim input within its historical context, we suggest that the movement to pro...

This study addresses the abuse experiences of immigrant women married or engaged to U.S. servicemen and the response of military social service and legal systems. In-depth interviews of 10 immigrant women who were intimate partners of service members were conducted, emerging themes were identified in the data, and the intersectionality of immigrati...

Battered immigrant women face tremendous barriers to using the U.S. criminal justice system to respond to the violence in their lives. These include various social, economic, cultural, and legal restrictions as well as hardships, which deter immigrant women from seeking relief. For those women who overcome these barriers and do access the system, t...

The article presents available research on the experiences of immigrant women who have encountered intimate violence, and examines the common and unique features of abuse suffered by immigrant women relative to nonimmigrant women. It first addresses the social meaning of an appropriate female behavior in immigrant communities. It highlights the dyn...

The article addresses the role of victim's voice in community policing of violence against women. Using Israel as a case study, with its minority Arab and majority Jewish communities, we show the paradoxes of adhering to community policing tenets in a highly collectivist community, and when divergence and conflict rather than congruence and consens...

It is only recently that domestic violence has been considered a violation of the law. Although men have battered, abused and mistreated their wives or intimate partners for a long time, historically, wife or partner abuse has been viewed as a "normal" part of marriage or intimate relationships. Only towards the end of the twentieth century, in the...

This article presents the perspectives of battered women, whose partners have been court-ordered to participate in a batterer intervention program, on the program's effects on their partners, themselves, and their families. Through in-depth interviews, 33 women described their experiences, expectations, and feelings before, during, and after their...

Drawing upon research on women in crime and justice, this study examines patterns of female crime and processing of female offenders in Israel over five decades. The data indicate that crime patterns of Israeli women and the criminal justice response to their transgressions show remarkable stability and are similar to those discerned in other Weste...

The dramatic growth in the women's prison population has contributed to making the particular needs of incarcerated women a prominent issue among practitioners, academicians, and human rights advocates. The October 1998 Amnesty International findings of abuse of women prisoners and of inadequate medical care for them in Michigan, Illinois, Californ...

This article explores the way in which immigration status interacts with domestic violence/woman battering in the lives of immigrant women in multicultural societies such as the USA, Australia, Germany and Israel. It reviews the reasons immigrant women are particularly vulnerable to battering, and discusses the reasons they stay with the batterers,...

In the last two decades, most states in the United States have passed laws to protect battered women and to enhance their access to the criminal justice system. Preliminary examinations suggest that the reforms have had a limited success on abused women's use of the law. This study examines the ways in which prosecuting and defense attorneys percei...

Recent legal reforms requiring vicitm input into sentencing decisions have been controversial. Among the numerous arguments against the reform are claims that victim input will have detrimental effects on sentencing outcomes and processes. The present study used qualitative strategies to study the perspectives of legal professionals and their exper...

Despite the high hopes of victims' rights advocates, and contrary to the warnings about negative consequences, the evidence demonstrates that victim impact statements (VISs) have had little influence on criminal proceedings and court outcomes. This study, based on interviews with judges, prosecutors, and defense counsels charged with the implementa...

Research on the use of victim impact statements at the sentencing stage shows that they have therapeutic advantages for victims, and that they enhance the quality of sentencing decisions. Contrary to the fears of some legal professionals, victim impact statements affect proportionality of sentencing rather than harshness. In the light of the resear...

This article reports on a study of the service providers'' perspective on what battered women face when entering the criminal justice system. Victim non-co-operation with the system can manifest itself in various ways and at several points in the process. The article begins with a review of the available literature on the criminal justice system''s...

Experts have argued that there are significant barriers to recent immigrants' use of the criminal justice system. This exploratory study, using convenience samples, is among the first to look empirically at the experiences of recent immigrant victims with the criminal justice system in the United States. Contrary to expectations, we found that immi...

This research brief summarizes a study that investigated whether the diverse cultural makeup of many communities requires the criminal justice system to modify its approach, particularly in handling immigrants. The study examined whether immigrant victims have more difficulty than other victims in dealing with the police and courts because of diffe...

This article reports on a study of the service providers' perspective on what battered women face when entering the criminal justice system. Victim non-cooperation with the system can manifest itself in various ways and at several points in the process. The article begins with a review of the available literature on the criminal justice system's re...

Drawing upon feminist research on women in crime and justice, this study examines patterns of female crime in Israel over four decades and the criminal justice response to female offenders over two decades. The data show that crime patterns of Israeli women and the criminal justice response to their transgressions show remarkable resemblance to tho...

This article reviews the history and definitions of sexual harassment, its various forms and levels, and the impact of recent legal cases on women in the workforce and in academia. The future of sexual harassmant as a legal concept and practice is discussed in the context of economic trends and the political reality of women in the workplace and el...

In the debate surrounding victim input into sentencing, a major argument in favor of using victim impact statements (VIS) centered on the presumed effect of VIS on victim satisfaction with justice. Drawing upon procedural justice theory, this article examines the validity of the arguments concerning increased satisfaction with justice through a sur...

South Australia was the first Australian State to legislatively introduce VictimImpact Statements (VIS). The new law which took effect in January 1989requires that VIS material be put before the court by prosecutors so as to informthe judge of any physical or mental harm, any loss or damage to propertysuffered by a victim as a result of a crime. Th...

In the debate surrounding victim input into sentencing, the major argument against the use of victim impact statements (VISs) centered on the presumed harshening effect of VISs on sentencing outcomes. An argument in favor of victim impact statements has been that VISs may have a beneficial effect on court dispositions — an increase in restitution a...

The article discusses spousal abuse in Sierra Leone—a polygamous society whose customary law recognizes the husband's right to physically chastise his wives. The situations in which physical chastisement is called for are presented and other conditions conducive to spousal abuse including marital rape in this polygamous society are discussed. The g...

The costs of crime to victims are well-known and research has described the physical, emotional, and financial injuries sustained by crime victims. To date, however, there has been little empirical work which investigates the correlates of victim distress vis-à-vis victim involvement in the criminal justice process. The present study explores the r...

Victims in the European criminal justice systems have rights of input into and participation in proceedings. Some scholars have recommended that adversary legal systems, such as the U.S. legal system, learn from the Europeans how to listen to victims. This study examined the forms and extent of victim participation in proceedings (as private prosec...

This article reviews the issues surrounding victim participation in the criminal justice system. It then examines the extent of victims' involvement in the process and its impact on their satisfaction with justice in one midwestern county. Multiple regression reveals that satisfaction with the sentence is influenced most strongly by the victims' fe...

The structure of parole decisions concerning the “need” level of parolees is examined by applying a multivariate analysis. Results show that although male and female parolees did not differ in their need scores in the various areas included in the “need assessment” form, or in the parole officers' subjective impression of the parolees' need level,...

Poland is one of the East European countries that has been mentioned as a haven for victims of crime due to its laws and procedures. This paper examines that assertion. It first surveys the substantive criminal law and its procedures in terms of the rights and privileges victims have in the criminal justice process. It then presents the results of...

The revival of interest in victims of crime during the 1970s and 1980s has resulted in various reforms to alleviate the problems for victims resulting from crime and from encounter with the criminal justice system. The most recent reforms have centered on the integration of victims in the criminal justice process, in an attempt to reduce their feel...

The role of victims in the criminal justice process has been a neglected area of research. In the past two decades, however, victims of crime have received increased attention, and recently this attention has centered on the involvement of victims in sentencing. This paper addresses the concerns of critics of the involvement of victims in sentencin...

Suggests that the right of victims in adversarial legal systems to provide input into sentencing decisions is still controversial. This paper presents the various forms of victim input (e.g., written or oral victim impact statements) and the arguments for and against its use in sentencing. Relevant research is surveyed that addresses these argument...

The article examines the concept of illicit sexual behavior in the customary law prevailing among the tribal society of Sierra Leone, on whom the English law has been imposed, and the conflicting definitions of rape in the general (English) law. The mechanisms to resolve sexual violations in the two legal systems are compared and the resultant cont...

Evaluation Research and Decision Guidance is designed to help people make better judgments and decisions when trying to reform, cure, or instruct anyone whose behavior or ignorance is a problem to themselves or to others. It will help those who work with delinquents, criminals, drug addicts, mentally ill persons, or the educationally deficient, to...