Protecting prosecution: exploring the powers of law in an intervention program for domestic violence

This article critically analyzes how the criminal justice system centrally situates itself in an intervention program intended to protect victims of domestic abuse and stalking. Based on the first empirical, in-depth study in the Netherlands of an intervention program using electronic technology that is increasingly used in the United States, results indicate how the central role of the criminal justice actors can evoke a shift toward foregrounding prosecutorial interests. Drawing from a critical theoretical understanding of the powers of law and the legal system, the author argues that current tendencies toward criminalization in domestic violence interventions can have an unintended violent impact for victims who are either excluded from the program or are forced into a criminal justice regime that might not be in their primary interest. In this study, women seem to actively navigate the use of the criminal justice system to receive the protection they need.