General Description:
Explores the law, policy, history and theory of domestic violence. Students will approach legal aspects of the problems from a variety of perspectives, which may include criminal justice, family law, civil rights law, tort and/or international human rights. The course examines the limits of legal methods and remedies for holding batterers accountable and keeping victims safe. Students will also study such topics as the dynamics of abusive relationships; the history of the criminal justice system's response to domestic violence; the defenses available to battered persons who kill their abusers; the legal paradigm of the sympathetic victim; psychological and feminist theories about abusive relationships; civil rights and tort liability for batters and third parties; and the intersection of domestic violence with international human rights. The goal of the course is to provide practical information about the challenges involved in legal advocacy for battered persons, as well as theoretical, ethical and historical approaches to the problem of domestic violence.
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