Marianne Hester

University of Bristol | UB · Centre for Gender and Violence Research

Previous research highlighted that a fundamental rethink of the measurement of domestic abuse was needed in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The research reported here aimed to develop and test new questions on domestic abuse for the CSEW to improve the headline prevalence measure, including frequency of abuse, to develop a way of mea...

This article explores “how do victims-survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) experience and perceive justice?” based on interviews with 251 victims-survivors with experience of different types of GBV and criminal, civil, and family justice systems. Victims-survivors were found to have multiple perceptions of justice, related to different points i...

This chapter will draw on interviews with seven Black and minority ethnic women who experienced child sexual abuse (CSA) and who have also endured multiple forms of victimisation into adulthood. As children, their polyvictimisation included sexual abuse, exposure to domestic violence, forced marriage, child marriage, grooming and trafficking for pr...

This study extends existing scholarship on coercive control within an intimate relationship by exploring how some perpetrators use spiritual abuse as part of their control repertoire and how others harness belief and doctrine to exercise a totalising ‘religious coercive control’ over their victims. The analysis in this article draws on two multi-fa...

This paper presents a comprehensive typology of the sex industry based on primary data collected between 2018 and 2019 for a UK Home Office-funded study. Typologies of the contemporary sex industry in England and Wales have tended to be limited to particular sectors or have been developed from a specific disciplinary perspective or theme (e.g. sexu...

The article is based on a qualitative field study of how justice (in its wider sense) is understood by practitioners and religious leaders from Judaism, Islam and Christianity, who work with victims of domestic violence and abuse. The article focuses on two key questions: a) how do practitioners from the three faith communities conceptualise justic...

This paper assesses the design and use of protection orders for domestic violence in England and Wales. It draws on data from 400 police classified domestic violence incidents and 65 interviews with victims/survivors, as well as new analysis of government justice data from England and Wales, to address a gap in literature on protection orders. The...

This paper addresses how ‘justice’ is understood, sought, and experienced by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) victims/survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV) within the UK. The key aims of this paper are to explore (a) experiences of GBV for BME victim/survivors, (b) their experiences and perceptions of justice, and (c) factors enabling, or posing...

This article draws upon quantitative and content analysis of 585 reports of rape recorded within two police force areas in England in 2010 and in 2014 tracking individual incidents to eventual outcome to examine the impact, if any, of intersecting inequalities on trajectories of rape cases reported to police. The data were collected as part of the...

This article reviews the background, introduction, and critical response to new criminal offenses of coercive control in England/Wales and Scotland. How the new Scottish offense is implemented will determine whether it can overcome the shortcomings of the English law. We then review new evidence on four dimensions of coercive control: the relations...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of and barriers to reporting female genital mutilation (FGM) by victims and survivors of FGM to the police in England and Wales. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on 14 interviews conducted with adult survivors and victims of FGM. A combination of 1:1 and group interviews...

Interactional justice is concerned with how far victims feel (i) respected by justice officials (‘interpersonal justice’) and (ii) informed about the progress of their case and the justice process overall (‘informational justice’) [Laxminarayan, M., Henrichs, J., and Pemberton, A. (2012). Procedural and interactional justice: a comparative study of...

Objective: Surveys that examine prevalence of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) without consideration of impact, severity or context have limitations. The article uses results from the first survey of a European clinical male population, the largest such study internationally, that measured a range of emotional, physical and sexual behaviors that c...

Background: Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) and child safeguarding are interlinked problems, impacting on all family members. Documenting in electronic patient records (EPRs) is an important part of managing these families. Current evidence and guidance, however, treats DVA and child safeguarding separately. This does not reflect the complexity...

Background Exposure to domestic violence and abuse (DVA) during childhood and adolescence increases the risk of negative outcomes across the lifespan. Objectives To synthesise evidence on the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of interventions for children exposed to DVA, with the aim of making recommendations for further...

This article is based on a review of 60 evaluations (published and unpublished) relating to European domestic violence perpetrator programmes, involving 7,212 programme participants across 12 countries. The purpose of the review, part of the “IMPACT: Evaluation of European Perpetrator Programmes” project funded by the European Commission (Daphne II...

We describe the development of an evidence-based training intervention on domestic violence and child safeguarding for general practice teams. We aimed – in the context of a pilot study – to improve knowledge, skills, attitudes and self-efficacy of general practice clinicians caring for families affected by domestic violence. Our evidence sources i...

This paper looks at the progression of rape cases through the criminal justice system, from report to court, exploring the different attrition trajectories for cases that can be characterized as involving acquaintance, intimate domestic violence, and historical child sexual abuse contexts. Using police data from three police forces in England cover...

This cross-sectional survey measured adult experience and perpetration of negative and potentially abusive behaviours with partners and its associations with mental and sexual health problems, drug and alcohol abuse in gay and bisexual men attending a UK sexual health service. Of 532 men, 33.9% (95% CI: 29.4-37.9) experienced and 16.3% (95% CI: 13....

Background Domestic violence and abuse is recognised globally as a pervasive public health issue, but there is less research in relation to gay and bisexual men. This study aimed to measure the occurrence of negative and potentially abusive behaviour and associations with health problems in gay and bisexual men; and pilot test an educational interv...

Background: Government and professional guidance encourages general practice clinicians to identify and refer children who experience domestic violence and abuse (DVA) but there is scant understanding of how general practice clinicians currently work with DVA in families. Objectives: The study explored general practice clinicians' practice with...

The ultimate goal of trials is to identify interventions that can benefit individuals in the future. It is crucial, therefore, that they measure outcomes that reflect the priorities and expectations of those using the interventions. We consider this issue in relation to trials of interventions for children exposed to domestic violence and abuse (DV...

Key practitioner messages: We reviewed published evidence on interventions aimed at improving professionals' practice with domestic violence survivors and their children.Training programmes were found to improve participants' knowledge, attitudes and clinical competence up to a year after delivery.Key elements of successful training include intera...

Objective: To measure the experience and perpetration of negative behaviour, including domestic violence and abuse (DVA), and investigate its associations with health conditions and behaviours in men attending general practice. Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted between September 2010 and June 2011. Setting: 16 general...

Reflecting the higher prevalence of domestic violence and abuse experienced by women, and the recognised health impacts of such abuse, studies have focused on the responses of health-care practitioners to women in heterosexual relationships. Comparatively few studies have looked at the health impacts or help-seeking of men who may be perpetrators a...

Aim To evaluate a training intervention for general practice-based doctors and nurses in terms of the identification, documentation, and referral of male patients experiencing or perpetrating domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in four general practices in the south west of England. Background Research suggests that male victims and perpetrators of...

This chapter introduces the theoretical and multi-method approach taken in the book and COHSAR research on which it is based. There is a discussion about the public story of DVA, which presents this as a heterosexual problem of, primarily, physical violence, and its implications for identifying and recognising DVA in same sex relationships both by...

This chapter discusses the implications of the heterosexual assumption for LGBTQ people generally and specifically in relation to DVA. The trend within LGBTQ communities for a human rights approach to equality is discussed and illustrated with findings from the COHSAR survey where most believed the experience and impact of DVA to be the same across...

This chapter discusses how practices of love are implicated in relationships characterised by DVA and how these practices of love reflect and interact with dominant ideas, expectations and beliefs about heterosexual intimacy. Evidence suggests that two relationship rules operate in DVA relationships: the relationship is for the abusive partner and...

This chapter summarises the key findings from the study and presents a new version of the Duluth Power and Control Wheel, the COHSAR Wheel, as a tool for working with victim/survivors and perpetrators of DVA in both same sex and heterosexual relationships. The COHSAR Wheel includes relationship rules (at the hub of the wheel surrounded by power and...

This chapter considers key findings from the COHSAR UK-wide survey. Over a third of respondents said they had experienced DVA ever in a same sex relationship and more had experienced at least one form of potentially DVA behaviour from same sex partners. Similarities and differences across the LGBTQ sample are discussed. Similarities included the ra...

This chapter outlines the development of the COHSAR survey questionnaire and interview schedule. It explains the feminist epistemological approach used to design the survey and to explore how processes of gendering and power might operate in similar or different ways in abusive female and male same sex or heterosexual relationships. Combined with i...

This chapter argues that socio-cultural factors, including the impact of the public story of DVA and practices of love, explain why so few LGBTQ victim/survivors seek formal sources of help. Important differences in help-seeking were found between same sex and heterosexual contexts of DVA, and by gender in relation to same sex DVA. The legacy of th...

This book provides the first detailed discussion in the UK of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in same sex relationships, offering a unique comparison with DVA experienced by heterosexual women and men. It examines how experiences of DVA may be shaped by gender, sexuality and age, including whether and how victims/survivors seek help, and asks, wh...

The article explores some of the ways heterosexual women are portrayed as perpetrators of intimate partner domestic violence (IPV) in police domestic violence records in England and is the first study in the United Kingdom to examine the issue of gender and domestic violence perpetrators in any detail and over time. The article is based on a study...

Purpose – The chapter explores transnational influences, global and local networks and organizations (governmental and nongovernmental), in the development of domestic violence policy in China and England. Approach – The frameworks of traveling theory (Said, 1984; Min, 2005) and global social policy and international relations approaches to policy...

There is no longer any question about whether domestic violence occurs in same-sex relationships. Consequently, the key questions now concern how to understand and respond to it. In this article the latter is the focus and, in particular, whether victims/survivors of same-sex domestic violence report their experiences to the police and what barrier...

Despite the development of much positive work by to tackle domestic violence, frustrations are often voiced by social care and other professionals - and echoed in women's and children's experiences - that it can be difficult to ensure and sustain safe outcomes for women and children in circumstances of domestic violence. The article takes as its st...

The paper discusses the development and application of a survey questionnaire for researching domestic violence in same sex relationships. A feminist epistemological approach was used to construct an instrument geared to explore how processes of gendering and power might operate in similar or different ways in abusive lesbian, gay male or heterosex...

In this article, drawing on interviews with women and men in same sex relationships who have experienced domestic violence, we explore the ways in which recognition of domestic violence can be hampered by public stories about the phenomenon and practices of love. Public stories construct domestic violence as a gendered, heterosexual phenomenon that...

This article draws on comparative research involving an exploratory and retrospective survey of 498 students in China and 481 in England and follow-up interviews, focusing on their experiences of physical punishment and disciplinary behaviour from mothers and fathers ‘while growing up’, including how they felt about their experiences and views conc...

Our paper is based on a qualitative empirical study of forced marriage in the UK and offers a multidimensional view which challenges four key points that are currently central in the forced marriage debate. First, the study explores the problematic of current UK and European Union policies on preventing forced marriage which focus on raising the ag...

The article discusses findings from first study in Europe to track domestic violence cases over six years through the criminal justice system and compare cases involving male and female perpetrators. Ninety-six cases involving men and women recorded by the police in England as intimate domestic violence perpetrators were tracked to provide detailed...

The article draws on recently completed research by the authors, involving a detailed study of love and intimate partner violence in same-sex and heterosexual relationships (funded by the ESRC, award RES-000-23-0650). The research, hitherto the most detailed study of its kind in the United Kingdom, included a national same-sex community survey (n =...

In this paper we present the case for those entering/considering same‐sex relationships to be included in sex and relationship education in schools. The Government's Guidance on Sex and Relationship Education provides a rationale for including same‐sex relationships when it says that schools should meet the needs of all their pupils ‘whatever their...

The article discusses the issues and problems that need to be addressed in the development of a comprehensive survey approach to explore same sex domestic violence in relationships involving individuals identifying as lesbian, gay male, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBT&Q). It draws on the most detailed study to date in the UK comparing love and...

Marianne Hester and Nicole Westmarland argue that the pattern of repeat offending in domestic violence requires a systematic response from the criminal justice system.

This article explores the process of attrition, where domestic violence cases fail to make it through the criminal justice system and do not result in criminal conviction. The article draws on the hitherto most detailed study of such attrition in the UK. The research, carried out across the Northumbria Police Force area, explored the quantitative a...

This book is based on a number of in depth primary research by the authors on post separation arrangements for the child's contact with a violent parent. We look at how violent men target women's relationships with their children as part of the tactics of coercive control. We challenge mother blaming discourses which place all responsibility on abu...

Recognised as a global concern by the UN, and increasingly acknowledged as a gendered crime and welfare issue in such diverse settings as the UK and China, domestic violence provides an important window on the development of policy and action in a global context. Focusing specifically on England and China, and mainly on the latter, the article high...

The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.

The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.

This article examines the changes in policy discourse and practice relating to custody and contact in Denmark during the past decade, and the tensions which have become evident between enforcement of contact and the safety of children and their mothers in circumstances of domestic violence.

In this article, the authors examine the contrary way that policy and practice have tended to operate in both Sweden and England, concerning violence against women on one hand and children on the other. The arrangements made for children's contact with parents after parents have separated or divorced are important with regard to the ongoing safety...

Domestic violence is everywhere and nowhere. No statutory organization or health service has work with either perpetrators or survivors of domestic violence (usually women and children) as the primary focus of their service, yet all agencies will have very significant numbers among their clients/service users. It is therefore crucial that the polic...

This article draws upon findings from a qualitative research study of the arrangements made for children to have contact with the nonresident parent following separations that resulted from domestic violence to women. In the article, we review recent developments in the law's response to domestic violence in England, showing how the criminal law an...

In Britain we are witnessing changes in family law towards a greater focus on children's needs and joint parental responsibility—as embodied in the Children Act 1989. The process of separation and decision-making with regard to children is also relying increasingly on conciliation and mediation in addition to legal procedures. In Denmark some simil...

This paper examines the witch craze in 16th- and 17th-century England, arguing that a revolutionary feminist theoretical framework provides a particularly useful analysis and explanation of the craze. By using such an approach the witch craze may be seen as an example of the use of violence against women to ensure the social control of women by men...

The paper looks at the sexual behaviour of anti-sexist men as this is presented in writing, in discussion, and in personal experience of them. It shows that changes in the sexual behaviour of anti-sexist men have been those that serve their own interests. Some anti-sexist male writing about sex describes how some of them cannot get an erection with...

We would like you to take part in the first UK wide survey which looks at what happens in same sex relationships when things go wrong. There has been a growing concern to make services more relevant and accessible to those in same sex relationships who might need help or advice. However, this is being done without much evidence of what individuals...

Addresses ways to overcome mother blaming and future directions for theory and research in this domain. This chapter reviews and develops 4 themes within the existing research and theoretical debates on mothering and domestic violence. Taking the issue of child contact as the main focus, the authors consider (1) the impact and effects that abuse ha...

This study was commissioned to provide an early evaluation of some of the measures of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims (DVCV) Act 2004. It aimed to: • establish baseline data against which to evaluate the implementation of the new measures; • provide an early snapshot (to December 2007) of progress towards implementation; • identify emergin...