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Working Document
SYNTHESIS OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CANADA RESEARCH FINDINGS ON SPOUSAL ASSAULT
Tammy Landau, Ph.D.
March, 1998
UNEDITED
The present study was funded by the Research and Statistics Division, Department of Justice Canada. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Justice Canada.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This synthesis of Department of Justice research findings on spousal abuse identifies a
number of key findings:
- there is general agreement that mandatory charging in cases of spousal assault has been
successful in increasing the number of charges laid, in promoting rigorous prosecution of
such cases and in reducing case attrition in the prosecution process;
- the mandatory charging policy has a high degree of support from criminal justice
professionals and victims of spousal assault;
- many women who experience the process want more support, including information about
the prosecutorial process, their own case and opportunities to meet with the Crown before
their case comes to trial;
- there is considerable support for alternatives to criminal prosecution, including mandatory
counselling or mediation;
- many police and Crown support increasing police discretion to charging in more minor cases;
- First Nation, rural and ethnocultural and immigrant women who have been abused face
additional barriers in accessing the criminal justice system and other community supports;
- further research needs include: follow-up data on the extent to which spousal abuse continues
at various stages in the prosecution process, integrating the voices of abused women into
evaluations of strategies to address spousal assault and a new focus on strategies to deal with
spousal assault which are located outside the criminal justice system.
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