In the Adopted Land: Abused Immigrant Women and the Criminal Justice System

(Hardback)

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Description

This volume details the experiences of Vietnamese immigrant women who have experienced intimate violence in the United States. It focuses on the diversity of their responses to abuse and their various encounters with the criminal justice system and victim service agencies. Also revealed are the effects of traditional culture, acculturation, and economic adaptation on the participation of these women as witnesses in the criminal justice process. It points to the roles of gender, economic power, legal status, and the organizational structure of the criminal justice system in shaping the experiences of women charged with domestic violence. The limitations of the criminal justice are exposed when it fails to provide abused women with long term protection, forces women to choose between personal safety and family life, and allows domestic violence laws to reinforce male domination. This work is among the few that highlights the need for more research into how the United States criminal justice system's policies affect abused Vietnamese immigrant women's safety and family lives. It incorporates interviews from women living in various communities in the United States. Professionals, victim advocates, social scientists, and students in criminal justice, justice studies, women's studies, and social work programs will all benefit from this insightful book.

Reviews

"This book provides the reader with accounts by Vietnamese immigrant women about their own domestic violence experiences and challenges the current criminal justice system's interventions for these victims of domestic violence. Bui demonstrates these immigrant women's experiences by analyzing the interrelationship between their cultural backgrounds and criminal justice interventions such as mandatory arrest, mandatory prosecution, restraining order, and batterers' treatment....I strongly recommend this book for those who conduct research on domestic violence in general, domestic violence in minority and immigrant communities in particular, and those who work with victims and offenders of domestic violence."-Criminal Justice Review
[T]his is a valuable contribution to the literatures on domestic violence and Vietnamese Americans. Highly recommended. All levels and libraries.-Choice
This book provides the reader with accounts by Vietnamese immigrant women about their own domestic violence experiences and challenges the current criminal justice system's interventions for these victims of domestic violence. Bui demonstrates these immigrant women's experiences by analyzing the interrelationship between their cultural backgrounds and criminal justice interventions such as mandatory arrest, mandatory prosecution, restraining order, and batterers' treatment....I strongly recommend this book for those who conduct research on domestic violence in general, domestic violence in minority and immigrant communities in particular, and those who work with victims and offenders of domestic violence.-Criminal Justice Review
"This is a valuable contribution to the literatures on domestic violence and Vietnamese Americans. Highly recommended. All levels and libraries."-Choice
"[T]his is a valuable contribution to the literatures on domestic violence and Vietnamese Americans. Highly recommended. All levels and libraries."-Choice

Author Bio

HOAN N. BUI is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.