The Use of Structural Intersectionality as a Method to Analyze How the Domestic Violence Civil Protective Order Process Replicates Inequality

• NCJ Number: 301722
• Journal: Violence Against Women Dated: 2020
• Author(s): A. Durfee
• Date Published: 2020
• Grant Number(s): 2015-IJ-CX-0013
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: Investigating the Impacts of Institutional and Contextual Factors on Protection Order Decision-Making

Annotation

Although protective orders remain a commonly used resource, multiply marginalized survivors are often unable to file for, obtain, serve, and enforce orders, so the current article argues that using structural intersectionality as a method is the best way to reveal how the protective-order process replicates broader social inequalities.

Abstract

This article advocates for an alternative way of using structural intersectionality. It first identifies the mechanisms by which inequalities exist and then describes how these can be traced back to intersecting social identities. In doing so, it highlights the importance of historical context and the blurring of the civil and criminal legal systems. (publisher abstract modified)