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Moving towards transformative justice for black women survivors of intimate partner violence: an intersectional qualitative study

PMCID: PMC11459893

PMID:

Abstract

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) disproportionately affects Black women, yet the current IPV justice response, relying on the criminal legal system, often fails them due to racialized, sexist stereotypes that disrupt Black women’s claims to survivorship. Transformative justice, a community-based approach designed to repair harm between the survivor and person who caused harm and transform the social conditions that perpetuate violence, may be a promising alternative approach to facilitate justice and accountability for IPV. However, little is known about the justice preferences of Black women IPV survivors. This qualitative study sought to understand Black women IPV survivors’ experiences interacting with police and their justice preferences following IPV. Methods Semi-structured interviews with 15 Black women IPV survivors were conducted between April 2020 and April 2022. Inductive analytic techniques derived from grounded theory were used to contextualize Black women IPV survivors’ experiences. Results One theme was identified that aligned with Black women IPV survivors’ experiences interacting with the police: 1) fear and distrust. Four themes were identified that aligned with justice preferences: (1) resolution through dialogue, (2) therapy and counseling services, (3) resource support, and (4) protection and prevention for children. Fear and distrust of the police was mainly driven by anticipated discrimination. Survivors’ justice preferences encompassed solution-based dialogue between the survivor and person who caused harm mediated by family and trusted individuals in the community, therapy services, housing support, and attention to preventing the intergenerational cycle of IPV for children as part of a community-based, holistic justice response. Conclusions Police interactions as part of the current justice response were counterproductive for Black women IPV survivors. Black women IPV survivors deserve alternative forms of justice and accountability for IPV. As an alternative justice response to IPV, transformative justice can encompass their justice preferences and promote equity and center Black women IPV survivors and their communities. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-024-20244-y.

Full Text

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prolific public health problem in the United States. IPV includes physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse by a current or former intimate partner or spouse [1]. IPV affects 1 in 3 women during their lifetime [2] and has a disproportionate impact on Black women. Specifically, 45.1% of non-Hispanic, Black women report experiencing lifetime IPV compared to 37.3% of non-Hispanic, white women [3]. IPV can result in multiple acute and chronic mental, physical, and sexual health consequences [4], and Black women IPV survivors are especially susceptible to adverse IPV-related health outcomes [5, 6].
Currently, the United States primarily relies on the criminal legal system as the primary justice and accountability response to IPV, which can be counterproductive for Black women IPV survivors [7]. The ineffectiveness of the criminal legal system for Black women IPV survivors can be traced back to the impacts of slavery and the nation’s devotion to white supremacy and patriarchy [8, 9]. Historically, Black women who experienced abuse from men, especially white men, were not protected and often devalued by the criminal legal system unlike their white women counterparts. For example, rape laws were only enforced when white women were victimized, which excluded Black women from receiving the same legal protection [9]. Additionally, Black women faced criminalization for self-defense against abusive men, often receiving harsher punishment than white women [8]. Currently, police act as gatekeepers of the criminal legal system, who Black women IPV survivors are supposed to turn to for help for IPV. However, police’s historical and current treatment of Black women IPV survivors reflects the longstanding oppression Black women faced by the criminal legal system during times of slavery [10].
An intersectionality theoretical framework can be used to understand and inform the historical and current criminal legal system response to IPV among Black women survivors. Intersectionality illustrates how social identities, such as race, sex, and class intersect at the individual level to give rise to experiences that embody interlocking systems of power and oppression, such as racism, sexism, and classism at a structural level [11–13]. These identities have a multiplicative effect and cannot, nor should not, be disentangled [14]. Black women cannot separate their identities of being Black and being a woman. When these two marginalized identities intersect, they face distinct structural challenges that differ from their white women or Black men counterparts [11].
Aligning with an intersectional lens, Black women IPV survivors face compounded structural inequities by the criminal legal system that are based on racist, sexist stereotypes that can result in barriers to achieving justice. For example, police officers often exhibit discriminatory, brutal, and disenfranchising behavior towards Black women who seek help for IPV [9, 15]. Compared to white women, Black women are more likely to be incarcerated during reports of IPV, particularly if they defend themselves during abusive events [8]. This treatment stems from stereotypes that label Black women as aggressive, portraying them as domineering and invulnerable, which delegitimizes their claims to survivorship [16–19].These perceptions contribute to the belief that a Black woman IPV survivor provoked her abuser, thereby criminalizing abuse victimization and sympathizing with abuse perpetration [20]. These stereotypes are also thought to contribute to the disproportionately higher rate of Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement that occurs when Black women IPV survivors report IPV to the police compared to white women IPV survivors [18, 21]. Additionally, Black women IPV survivors are more likely to lose custody of their children once CPS becomes involved than white women IPV survivors [22]. These negative experiences with ostensibly helpful social and legal service agencies often serve to further traumatize Black women IPV survivors and fail to promote safety and healing [18]. Taken together, this evidence suggests that Black women are disproportionately affected by both interpersonal and state violence, and these exacerbating forces produce an oppressive, inequitable justice response that often results in Black women’s apprehension to seek help for IPV, and consequently, a lack of justice served [9, 18].
Juxtaposing the workings of the criminal legal system, transformative justice has emerged as an alternative, holistic community-based justice approach to IPV prevention and intervention. Transformative justice was created, and is largely led by, Black women and other women of color [15]. In alignment with intersectionality’s commitment to transformation to advance equity and social justice [23], transformative justice embodies an abolitionist framework, and was created to provide a flexible, survivor-centered and solution-based justice and accountability response to IPV that centers marginalized communities, resists oppressive systems, and functions completely outside of the criminal legal system [24–26]. The intention behind transformative justice is to redesign the mechanisms that repair harm between a survivor and the person who caused harm without reinforcing the cis-heteropatriarchal racist, sexist, and classist structures of the criminal legal system [15]. Transformative justice recognizes that IPV occurs within a system of broader state violence, so addressing individual-level violent behavior alone (i.e., ignoring the structures that teach and perpetuate violence) is insufficient for IPV prevention and intervention [25].
The practice of applying transformative justice to IPV involves bringing the survivor and the person who caused harm together in a secure environment and centering the promotion of survivor agency and community change. Through this approach, the IPV survivor describes their narrative of harm they experienced, and the person who caused harm is encouraged to acknowledge the survivor’s experience, sincerely apologize, and work through rehabilitation [24, 26]. Transformative justice relies on members of the community to hold people who caused harm accountable and facilitate healing by recognizing that IPV occurs within the same neighborhoods that people who cause harm occupy. This can position the community to care about IPV resolution and the prevention of further violence [27]. Overall, transformative justice seeks to transform the survivor and person who caused harm and also seeks a process of transformation of the underlying community and systemic conditions that contribute to violence [15, 24]. For example, transformative justice envisions creating strategies to improve housing and education systems to contribute to the creation of safe communities, thereby removing the need to rely on the criminal legal system to address harm after it has occurred. Instead, the emphasis is on preventing and responding to harm by reducing adversities in a community’s systems that have the potential to teach and perpetuate it [25]. Given the barriers and inequities that Black women IPV survivors face when seeking justice from the criminal legal system, alternative responses to IPV for Black women survivors is needed. Transformative justice may serve as a tailored structural alternative solution for Black women survivors and their communities.
Afrocentricity, brought to prominence in the United States by Molefi Kete Asante, is a paradigm defined as an approach to thought and behavior that centers African interests, values, and perspectives [28, 29]. This paradigm affirms and celebrates the right of people of African descent to pursue self-determination, which calls for the development of Afrocentric ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies [30]. Key principles that guide Afrocentric thought and behavior include the promotion of unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, collective purpose, creativity, and faith [31]. These tenets that prioritize collectiveness encompass a set of values that can help build and strengthen Black communities, and may be especially useful to consider as a framework for opposing structural racism that is historically and modernly embedded within social and legal services [32]. Drawing on an Afrocentric approach, transformative justice can lend itself to the seven major principles of the Afrocentric paradigm as part of a holistic response that resists the external systems that oppress Black individuals and embraces cultural heritage, collective empowerment, and cohesion. Findings from synthesis of qualitative research aimed at understanding strategies for Black women IPV survivors to overcome IPV suggest that Black women IPV survivors may prefer IPV-related services that are Afrocentric when available [33]. Further, transformative justice has been practiced and enhanced using Afrocentric principles to address non-IPV-related harm and has been shown to be a method to address intersecting injustices among Black individuals and transform the person who caused harm and their community [24]. When practiced within Black communities, transformative justice may help provide a tailored approach to IPV prevention and intervention that incorporates and aligns with Afrocentricity, and more effectively promotes accountability among people who cause harm and acquisition of justice among survivors than traditional criminal legal practices.
Previous research has examined structural- and community-level predictors of police reporting among IPV and sexual violence survivors in the United States. This body of scholarship suggests that racism and sexism interact to produce inequitable police responses, ultimately leading to underreporting of IPV to police [34]. Moreover, research that has examined IPV and sexual violence survivors’ justice goals finds that survivors’ goals align closely with restorative justice practices, another survivor-centered alternative to the criminal legal response that prioritizes harm repair [35]. Finally, a study that used nationally representative data to examine how state-level restorative justice polices impact perceived mental health among women IPV survivors found that state restorative justice policies may be less effective in improving mental health outcomes among Black women IPV survivors compared to white IPV survivors [36]. Notably, however, samples in these studies were not specific to Black women IPV survivors, and little is known about justice preferences among Black women IPV survivors.
Because of the ways in which the criminal legal system fails Black women IPV survivors in particular, research on Black women IPV survivors’ perceptions of alternative forms of justice is needed [15]. It is crucial to understand Black women IPV survivors’ interactions with the police that respond to IPV and their preferences for justice to understand how to effectively apply, tailor, and transform the justice response to better serve Black women IPV survivors. This study uses intersectional and Afrocentric lenses to address this gap. We conducted a qualitative research study to understand Black women IPV survivors’ experiences with police interactions and their accountability preferences for IPV with the goal of understanding how to tailor the justice approach to IPV for Black women. We sought to answer the following questions: (1) What are Black women IPV survivors’ experiences interacting with police for IPV? (2) What are Black women IPV survivors’ preferences for justice and accountability for IPV?
Participants were from the Physiological Reactions to Women’s Experiences of Stress Study (PROWESS), an explanatory sequential mixed methods study (QUANT -> QUAL) conducted from November 2020 – April 2022 designed to understand experiences of stress among Black women IPV survivors. Participants for this study were recruited nationally using Instagram and Facebook social media platforms and Craigslist. Women were deemed eligible if they met the following criteria: (1) self-identified as a Black or African American cisgender female; (2) between 18 and 44 years old; (3) reported experiencing at least one incident of physical or sexual IPV with a male partner within the past year; and (4) engaged in sexual activity with a male partner in the past 6 months. Participants were screened for eligibility via telephone by a research team member or through a self-administered online survey. Informed consent was obtained from 55 participants who completed baseline and 1-month follow-up surveys. In the qualitative phase of the study, 15 of these participants were interviewed after completing the follow-up survey. These participants were not further sampled based on particular inclusion/exclusion criteria; rather, all participants were invited to participate in an interview, and recruitment stopped once 15 participants agreed to be interviewed. The sample size of 15 was considered sufficient due to reaching thematic saturation since themes were recurring and supported that no new information was being identified. The interview participants provided oral informed consent. Detailed characteristics of the sample are provided in the Results section. For more details about the parent study, see [37].
Using an intracategorical intersectionality approach [38], semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 Black women were conducted from April 2020 to April 2022. During the interviews, participants were asked about perceptions of how the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted health, finances and relationships, which has been published [37]. For this analysis, participants were specifically asked a subset of questions about experiences interacting with the police for IPV, perceptions of interacting with the police for IPV, perceptions of healing from IPV, and preferred modalities for resolving experiences of IPV (Supplementary File 1). Interviewers used probes about justice during the interview using questions like, “What does justice for IPV look like for you?” The data forming the basis of this analysis have not been included in any previous publications from this project. Interviews were conducted virtually using a Zoom interface without use of the video feature except to initially verify participant identity and lasted an average of 60 min. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed by Landmark, an external transcription service. Participants were remunerated $25 via a gift card. All study procedures were approved by Yale University (HIC#2000027381) Human Investigation Committee and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (#13147) Institutional Review Board.
The research team drew upon inductive qualitative analytic techniques from grounded theory [39]. In alignment with the goals of grounded theory, we sought to expand beyond what is already known to define a new area of knowledge grounded in Black women IPV survivors’ lived experiences. First, an interdisciplinary team consisting of five coders, which included the qualitative interviewer and Principal Investigators, open-coded two interviews. In this stage, codes were iteratively discussed, combined, and condensed to create a preliminary codebook. Through these iterative practices, the codebook was refined and finalized. Using the final codebook, the remaining transcripts were coded by two coders, and any questions or inconsistencies that arose during this time were discussed by the research team and settled by the Principal Investigators. Next, the coding team used axial coding [39] to understand codes in relation to one another and develop themes. A matrix was used to organize themes by participant, which facilitated a deeper understanding of the distribution of responses and salience of themes. Finally, narrative summaries were created and used throughout the analysis process to contextualize case examples derived from the matrix. Dedoose version 9.0.62 [40] was used to analyze data. Pseudonyms have been assigned to each participant to preserve anonymity.
Four criteria of trustworthiness were applied to the qualitative analysis: credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability [41]. Credibility and dependability were strengthened through sustained engagement with the data, including multiple transcript reviews, robust coding, and peer debriefings where interdisciplinary scholars, including Black women and women who have experienced IPV, provided qualitative guidance. Additionally, the first author conducted member-checking, which included meeting with the 7 of the 15 participants who agreed to participate, to review our findings with them to ensure results matched their experiences and/or their perceptions of participants’ experiences to strengthen credibility. These participants were remunerated $45 via a gift card. Through these meetings, we found that our results aligned with their experiences and/or perceptions, and there was no need to modify or re-interpret results based on participant feedback. Transferability was strengthened by interviewing key informants from the parent study of purposively sampled Black women IPV survivors and providing a rich description of the participants, study context, results, and discussion of limitations to aid in the assessment of the extent to which study findings may transfer to other contexts and populations. Lastly, confirmability was strengthened by providing a detailed description of the research process.
Table 1 presents demographic characteristics of the sample. The average age of the sample was 29.7 (4.1). The majority of the women self-reported experiencing both physical and sexual IPV (66.7%). About half of the women reported having never interacted with the police for IPV (53.3%). Most of the women finished college or graduate school (93.3%), were employed (86.7%), and made an annual salary above $30,000 (80.0%). All the women self-identified as cisgender (100.0%), and most of the women identified as heterosexual (93.3%). Lastly, slightly less than half the sample identified as Protestant (46.7%).
Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature that suggests that interacting with police as a primary justice approach for addressing IPV may be ineffective for Black women IPV survivors. Participants in this study were hesitant to rely on the police due to feared discrimination. This finding is consistent with previous research that suggests that Black women anticipate discrimination due to previous direct and indirect negative experiences with police [34, 42, 43]. This perception was salient for Black women who were devalued by police during childhood. As an extension of the historically inequitable treatment exhibited by the criminal legal system towards Black women, young Black girls have also been disproportionately punished by the criminal legal system, both historically and modernly, and are often perceived and treated as adults [10, 44]. Similar to stereotypes used to justify violence against Black women, Black girls are often racially stereotyped as devoid of innocence and are therefore not perceived as capable of being victimized [10]. This stereotype persists into Black womanhood, which contributes to the (both feared and realized) delegitimization of Black women’s experiences with IPV victimization and a failure by police to hold the person who caused harm accountable [10].
Additionally, the race of a survivor’s partner influenced anticipated discrimination. Having a white male partner exacerbated anticipated discrimination and mistrust of the police, especially if this was concordant with police racial identity. Black women survivors in our sample believed the criminal legal system would protect their white male partners if they sought help for IPV from the police. This is likely because these partners are men who have historically and modernly benefitted from patriarchy and white supremacy [8, 25]. On the other hand, having a Black male partner evoked survivors’ need to protect their Black partners from harmful and racist police brutality and discrimination. These phenomena, as described by women in our sample, undermine Black women’s claims to survivorship, and perpetuate violence from multiple sources (e.g., partner and state) [10]. Black women survivors in our study recognized how they and their Black male partners already face punitive sanctions at the hands of multiple systems [45], and this recognition led to Black women survivors prioritizing the safety of their Black partner and community over the safety of themselves. These behaviors align with Afrocentric principles of collectivism [32] and are congruent with previous research that further describes such safety trade-offs among Black women IPV survivors [34]. Research suggests that this “lose-lose situation” may, in part, be remedied by engaging Black women’s communities in transforming justice praxis and social conditions to better serve Black women IPV survivors [10, 44].
We also found that women who had prior experience interacting with the police for IPV experienced a non-survivor-centered justice and accountability response, which exacerbated existing trauma and ultimately made them regret relying on the police for help. Moreover, we found that survivors worried about their own safety and their children’s safety in addition to fearing that their abuse would be minimized by the police. This finding is consistent with research that documents instances of police contacting CPS, resulting in survivors losing custody of their children, and research documenting incarceration of the person who caused harm, despite the survivor’s wishes to avoid arrest [43, 46–49]. The widespread fear and distrust of the police led women in this sample to rely on police for help only if IPV was severe or life-threatening, and they felt there was no alternative. Black women IPV survivors should be able to seek help promptly, without feeling compelled to wait until the abuse is severe, and the resulting help-seeking response should be supportive rather than harmful, enabling them to access help from traditional avenues. These findings reflect the intersecting forms of violence (e.g., partner and state) that Black women IPV survivors undergo and the need for alternative justice approaches, particularly separate from the criminal legal system.
When thinking about IPV justice preferences, Black women IPV survivors in our sample preferred that both they and their partners undergo therapy and counseling, individually and/or together, to foster a holistic accountability process. While not all partners were Black men in this study, many Black women partner with Black men, and it is important to acknowledge that there may be socio-cultural barriers for Black men to receive these services [50]. These socio-cultural barriers include historical trauma, stigma, mistrust, cost, lack of mental health education, and access to services [51]. These socio-cultural barriers are further complicated by Black masculinity which does not socialize Black boys and men to be receptive to mental health services and psychotherapy [51, 52]. Therefore, there may be some cultural disconnect between Black women IPV survivors’ recommendations for their partners, and Black men who caused harm’s willingness to engage in these recommendations. Transformative justice practiced in Black communities may be used to help shift Black men’s perceptions of therapy and counseling services and leverage resources to connect Black women IPV survivors and their partners to therapy services in a survivor-centered approach to IPV justice.
Black women IPV survivors’ preference for housing security as a form of resource support powerfully illustrates the necessity of addressing basic needs and providing tangible resources as part of a holistic justice response for Black women experiencing IPV. This finding aligns with previous research highlighting the critical importance of housing stability for Black women IPV survivors [53–55]. Currently, IPV resources are heavily geared towards policing, criminal legal responses, and temporary shelter, rather than helping survivors remain in their communities and meet their daily needs [15, 53]. One important implication that can be drawn from this finding is the need to transform larger societal systems to be more equitable for these women. Communities can lead transformation by leveraging resources to help Black women IPV survivors meet basic needs, thereby collectively supporting survivors in holding their partners accountable, achieving sustained safety, and exercising their agency.
Children who are exposed to interparental IPV are more likely to experience IPV themselves, a pattern referred to as the “intergenerational transmission of violence” [56–58]. Survivors in this sample desired collective community responsibility to educate children about IPV and healthy relationships to help disrupt this intergenerational pattern and promote IPV prevention broadly. Sites for education and prevention that participants described included community schools and churches. These findings support the assertion that Black women IPV survivors do not see their ideal justice response as punitive, but as holistic. Survivors see their ideal justice response as one that does not rely on the state, but rather involves a collective, community-based approach that centers on prevention and intervention. As such, community members like educators, church leaders, and advocates should be involved in the transformative justice process for Black women IPV survivors and their children to promote holistic justice.
Transformative justice has been a longstanding practice in Black communities as an alternative approach to addressing IPV and providing options outside of the criminal legal system [24]. Given that practices that align with transformative justice are preferred by Black women IPV survivors, future research should focus on how to implement and use transformative justice for IPV to uplift Black communities and amplify their voices. However, research and guidance on implementing transformative justice for Black women IPV survivors and their communities remains scant. Kim et al. [59] conducted a study among nine domestic violence and sexual assault organizations to understand barriers and facilitators of implementing a transformative justice model approach into provider organizations and found that aligning organizational values with transformative justice principles, prioritizing training, and incorporating services for the person who caused harm were among methods to facilitate implementation of an intervention model aligned with transformative justice into community-based organizations. This study can provide valuable insights for implementing transformative justice in Black communities. However, it is important to acknowledge that while this study included organizations serving intersectional groups such as Asian and Latinx cisgender women, immigrant, and refugee populations, it did not include organizations primarily focused on serving Black women. Given the historical and social context for Black women and their communities, it is crucial to prioritize the unique experiences and preferences of the focal Black community to ensure the transformative justice approach implemented is tailored to meet their specific needs. Relatedly, future research should use community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods to facilitate the co-creation, co-design, and co-development of transformative justice with researchers [60]. CBPR is well-aligned with intersectionality’s principles of reflecting community realities and priorities, fostering equitable partnerships, and interpreting research findings within community contexts, which can be used to facilitate the dissemination and translation of findings to drive transformational social change for Black women IPV survivors and their communities [61]. Moreover, recent research has explored incorporating transformative justice praxis into domestic violence intervention programs [62]. While integrating transformative justice principles may bolster a survivor-centered approach of domestic violence intervention programs, caution is warranted when integrating these principles into formal services linked to the criminal legal system. This is crucial to avoid undermining the core foundation of the transformative justice movement as separate from the criminal legal system.
This study has limitations that warrant consideration. Our sample was comprised primarily of middle-class Black women who had attained at least some college education. Therefore, these findings may not be transferrable to other populations of Black women IPV survivors, such as women who are living at or below the poverty line or who are more socioeconomically marginalized. Further, these findings are likely not transferrable outside of the United States because the nature of justice responses may differ across contexts. We did not have geographical location information such as urbanicity of participants’ setting available to us to reflect on. Future research should include this important information since it may influence how Black women IPV survivors perceive the police. Since our sample consists of survivors from various communities across the United States, we believe that findings reflect diverse experiences and perspectives. Next, since these interviews were conducted between 2020 and 2022, it is possible that women experienced changes to IPV reporting due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We broadly inquired about Black women IPV survivors’ experiences with police but did not specifically focus on their encounters during the pandemic. Therefore, we cannot distinguish between their experiences before and during the pandemic. However, we did ask multiple questions about how the pandemic impacted their experiences of IPV. Here, COVID-19 pandemic-specific coercive control impacted their IPV experiences during this time [37].

Sections

"[{\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR1\", \"CR2\", \"CR3\", \"CR4\", \"CR5\", \"CR6\"], \"section\": \"Background\", \"text\": \"Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prolific public health problem in the United States. IPV includes physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse by a current or former intimate partner or spouse [1]. IPV affects 1 in 3 women during their lifetime [2] and has a disproportionate impact on Black women. Specifically, 45.1% of non-Hispanic, Black women report experiencing lifetime IPV compared to 37.3% of non-Hispanic, white women [3]. IPV can result in multiple acute and chronic mental, physical, and sexual health consequences [4], and Black women IPV survivors are especially susceptible to adverse IPV-related health outcomes [5, 6].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR7\", \"CR8\", \"CR9\", \"CR9\", \"CR8\", \"CR10\"], \"section\": \"An intersectional approach to the primary justice response to IPV\", \"text\": \"Currently, the United States primarily relies on the criminal legal system as the primary justice and accountability response to IPV, which can be counterproductive for Black women IPV survivors [7]. The ineffectiveness of the criminal legal system for Black women IPV survivors can be traced back to the impacts of slavery and the nation\\u2019s devotion to white supremacy and patriarchy [8, 9]. Historically, Black women who experienced abuse from men, especially white men, were not protected and often devalued by the criminal legal system unlike their white women counterparts. For example, rape laws were only enforced when white women were victimized, which excluded Black women from receiving the same legal protection [9]. Additionally, Black women faced criminalization for self-defense against abusive men, often receiving harsher punishment than white women [8]. Currently, police act as gatekeepers of the criminal legal system, who Black women IPV survivors are supposed to turn to for help for IPV. However, police\\u2019s historical and current treatment of Black women IPV survivors reflects the longstanding oppression Black women faced by the criminal legal system during times of slavery [10].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR11\", \"CR13\", \"CR14\", \"CR11\"], \"section\": \"An intersectional approach to the primary justice response to IPV\", \"text\": \"An intersectionality theoretical framework can be used to understand and inform the historical and current criminal legal system response to IPV among Black women survivors. Intersectionality illustrates how social identities, such as race, sex, and class intersect at the individual level to give rise to experiences that embody interlocking systems of power and oppression, such as racism, sexism, and classism at a structural level [11\\u201313]. These identities have a multiplicative effect and cannot, nor should not, be disentangled [14]. Black women cannot separate their identities of being Black and being a woman. When these two marginalized identities intersect, they face distinct structural challenges that differ from their white women or Black men counterparts [11].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR9\", \"CR15\", \"CR8\", \"CR16\", \"CR19\", \"CR20\", \"CR18\", \"CR21\", \"CR22\", \"CR18\", \"CR9\", \"CR18\"], \"section\": \"An intersectional approach to the primary justice response to IPV\", \"text\": \"Aligning with an intersectional lens, Black women IPV survivors face compounded structural inequities by the criminal legal system that are based on racist, sexist stereotypes that can result in barriers to achieving justice. For example, police officers often exhibit discriminatory, brutal, and disenfranchising behavior towards Black women who seek help for IPV [9, 15]. Compared to white women, Black women are more likely to be incarcerated during reports of IPV, particularly if they defend themselves during abusive events [8]. This treatment stems from stereotypes that label Black women as aggressive, portraying them as domineering and invulnerable, which delegitimizes their claims to survivorship [16\\u201319].These perceptions contribute to the belief that a Black woman IPV survivor provoked her abuser, thereby criminalizing abuse victimization and sympathizing with abuse perpetration [20]. These stereotypes are also thought to contribute to the disproportionately higher rate of Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement that occurs when Black women IPV survivors report IPV to the police compared to white women IPV survivors [18, 21]. Additionally, Black women IPV survivors are more likely to lose custody of their children once CPS becomes involved than white women IPV survivors [22]. These negative experiences with ostensibly helpful social and legal service agencies often serve to further traumatize Black women IPV survivors and fail to promote safety and healing [18]. Taken together, this evidence suggests that Black women are disproportionately affected by both interpersonal and state violence, and these exacerbating forces produce an oppressive, inequitable justice response that often results in Black women\\u2019s apprehension to seek help for IPV, and consequently, a lack of justice served [9, 18].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR15\", \"CR23\", \"CR24\", \"CR26\", \"CR15\", \"CR25\"], \"section\": \"Transformative justice as an alternative approach to addressing IPV\", \"text\": \"Juxtaposing the workings of the criminal legal system, transformative justice has emerged as an alternative, holistic community-based justice approach to IPV prevention and intervention. Transformative justice was created, and is largely led by, Black women and other women of color [15]. In alignment with intersectionality\\u2019s commitment to transformation to advance equity and social justice [23], transformative justice embodies an abolitionist framework, and was created to provide a flexible, survivor-centered and solution-based justice and accountability response to IPV that centers marginalized communities, resists oppressive systems, and functions completely outside of the criminal legal system [24\\u201326]. The intention behind transformative justice is to redesign the mechanisms that repair harm between a survivor and the person who caused harm without reinforcing the cis-heteropatriarchal racist, sexist, and classist structures of the criminal legal system [15]. Transformative justice recognizes that IPV occurs within a system of broader state violence, so addressing individual-level violent behavior alone (i.e., ignoring the structures that teach and perpetuate violence) is insufficient for IPV prevention and intervention [25].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR24\", \"CR26\", \"CR27\", \"CR15\", \"CR24\", \"CR25\"], \"section\": \"Transformative justice as an alternative approach to addressing IPV\", \"text\": \"The practice of applying transformative justice to IPV involves bringing the survivor and the person who caused harm together in a secure environment and centering the promotion of survivor agency and community change. Through this approach, the IPV survivor describes their narrative of harm they experienced, and the person who caused harm is encouraged to acknowledge the survivor\\u2019s experience, sincerely apologize, and work through rehabilitation [24, 26]. Transformative justice relies on members of the community to hold people who caused harm accountable and facilitate healing by recognizing that IPV occurs within the same neighborhoods that people who cause harm occupy. This can position the community to care about IPV resolution and the prevention of further violence [27]. Overall, transformative justice seeks to transform the survivor and person who caused harm and also seeks a process of transformation of the underlying community and systemic conditions that contribute to violence [15, 24]. For example, transformative justice envisions creating strategies to improve housing and education systems to contribute to the creation of safe communities, thereby removing the need to rely on the criminal legal system to address harm after it has occurred. Instead, the emphasis is on preventing and responding to harm by reducing adversities in a community\\u2019s systems that have the potential to teach and perpetuate it [25]. Given the barriers and inequities that Black women IPV survivors face when seeking justice from the criminal legal system, alternative responses to IPV for Black women survivors is needed. Transformative justice may serve as a tailored structural alternative solution for Black women survivors and their communities.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR28\", \"CR29\", \"CR30\", \"CR31\", \"CR32\", \"CR33\", \"CR24\"], \"section\": \"Application of an afrocentric approach to transformative justice\", \"text\": \"Afrocentricity, brought to prominence in the United States by Molefi Kete Asante, is a paradigm defined as an approach to thought and behavior that centers African interests, values, and perspectives [28, 29]. This paradigm affirms and celebrates the right of people of African descent to pursue self-determination, which calls for the development of Afrocentric ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies [30]. Key principles that guide Afrocentric thought and behavior include the promotion of unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, collective purpose, creativity, and faith [31]. These tenets that prioritize collectiveness encompass a set of values that can help build and strengthen Black communities, and may be especially useful to consider as a framework for opposing structural racism that is historically and modernly embedded within social and legal services [32]. Drawing on an Afrocentric approach, transformative justice can lend itself to the seven major principles of the Afrocentric paradigm as part of a holistic response that resists the external systems that oppress Black individuals and embraces cultural heritage, collective empowerment, and cohesion. Findings from synthesis of qualitative research aimed at understanding strategies for Black women IPV survivors to overcome IPV suggest that Black women IPV survivors may prefer IPV-related services that are Afrocentric when available [33]. Further, transformative justice has been practiced and enhanced using Afrocentric principles to address non-IPV-related harm and has been shown to be a method to address intersecting injustices among Black individuals and transform the person who caused harm and their community [24]. When practiced within Black communities, transformative justice may help provide a tailored approach to IPV prevention and intervention that incorporates and aligns with Afrocentricity, and more effectively promotes accountability among people who cause harm and acquisition of justice among survivors than traditional criminal legal practices.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR34\", \"CR35\", \"CR36\"], \"section\": \"Current study\", \"text\": \"Previous research has examined structural- and community-level predictors of police reporting among IPV and sexual violence survivors in the United States. This body of scholarship suggests that racism and sexism interact to produce inequitable police responses, ultimately leading to underreporting of IPV to police [34]. Moreover, research that has examined IPV and sexual violence survivors\\u2019 justice goals finds that survivors\\u2019 goals align closely with restorative justice practices, another survivor-centered alternative to the criminal legal response that prioritizes harm repair [35]. Finally, a study that used nationally representative data to examine how state-level restorative justice polices impact perceived mental health among women IPV survivors found that state restorative justice policies may be less effective in improving mental health outcomes among Black women IPV survivors compared to white IPV survivors [36]. Notably, however, samples in these studies were not specific to Black women IPV survivors, and little is known about justice preferences among Black women IPV survivors.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR15\"], \"section\": \"Current study\", \"text\": \"Because of the ways in which the criminal legal system fails Black women IPV survivors in particular, research on Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 perceptions of alternative forms of justice is needed [15]. It is crucial to understand Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 interactions with the police that respond to IPV and their preferences for justice to understand how to effectively apply, tailor, and transform the justice response to better serve Black women IPV survivors. This study uses intersectional and Afrocentric lenses to address this gap. We conducted a qualitative research study to understand Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 experiences with police interactions and their accountability preferences for IPV with the goal of understanding how to tailor the justice approach to IPV for Black women. We sought to answer the following questions: (1) What are Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 experiences interacting with police for IPV? (2) What are Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 preferences for justice and accountability for IPV?\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"Sec11\", \"CR37\"], \"section\": \"Sample\", \"text\": \"Participants were from the Physiological Reactions to Women\\u2019s Experiences of Stress Study (PROWESS), an explanatory sequential mixed methods study (QUANT -> QUAL) conducted from November 2020 \\u2013 April 2022 designed to understand experiences of stress among Black women IPV survivors. Participants for this study were recruited nationally using Instagram and Facebook social media platforms and Craigslist. Women were deemed eligible if they met the following criteria: (1) self-identified as a Black or African American cisgender female; (2) between 18 and 44 years old; (3) reported experiencing at least one incident of physical or sexual IPV with a male partner within the past year; and (4) engaged in sexual activity with a male partner in the past 6 months. Participants were screened for eligibility via telephone by a research team member or through a self-administered online survey. Informed consent was obtained from 55 participants who completed baseline and 1-month follow-up surveys. In the qualitative phase of the study, 15 of these participants were interviewed after completing the follow-up survey. These participants were not further sampled based on particular inclusion/exclusion criteria; rather, all participants were invited to participate in an interview, and recruitment stopped once 15 participants agreed to be interviewed. The sample size of 15 was considered sufficient due to reaching thematic saturation since themes were recurring and supported that no new information was being identified. The interview participants provided oral informed consent. Detailed characteristics of the sample are provided in the Results section. For more details about the parent study, see [37].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR38\", \"CR37\"], \"section\": \"Interview guide\", \"text\": \"Using an intracategorical intersectionality approach [38], semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 Black women were conducted from April 2020 to April 2022. During the interviews, participants were asked about perceptions of how the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted health, finances and relationships, which has been published [37]. For this analysis, participants were specifically asked a subset of questions about experiences interacting with the police for IPV, perceptions of interacting with the police for IPV, perceptions of healing from IPV, and preferred modalities for resolving experiences of IPV (Supplementary File 1). Interviewers used probes about justice during the interview using questions like, \\u201cWhat does justice for IPV look like for you?\\u201d The data forming the basis of this analysis have not been included in any previous publications from this project. Interviews were conducted virtually using a Zoom interface without use of the video feature except to initially verify participant identity and lasted an average of 60\\u00a0min. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed by Landmark, an external transcription service. Participants were remunerated $25 via a gift card. All study procedures were approved by Yale University (HIC#2000027381) Human Investigation Committee and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (#13147) Institutional Review Board.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR39\", \"CR39\", \"CR40\"], \"section\": \"Data analysis\", \"text\": \"The research team drew upon inductive qualitative analytic techniques from grounded theory [39]. In alignment with the goals of grounded theory, we sought to expand beyond what is already known to define a new area of knowledge grounded in Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 lived experiences. First, an interdisciplinary team consisting of five coders, which included the qualitative interviewer and Principal Investigators, open-coded two interviews. In this stage, codes were iteratively discussed, combined, and condensed to create a preliminary codebook. Through these iterative practices, the codebook was refined and finalized. Using the final codebook, the remaining transcripts were coded by two coders, and any questions or inconsistencies that arose during this time were discussed by the research team and settled by the Principal Investigators. Next, the coding team used axial coding [39] to understand codes in relation to one another and develop themes. A matrix was used to organize themes by participant, which facilitated a deeper understanding of the distribution of responses and salience of themes. Finally, narrative summaries were created and used throughout the analysis process to contextualize case examples derived from the matrix. Dedoose version 9.0.62 [40] was used to analyze data. Pseudonyms have been assigned to each participant to preserve anonymity.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR41\"], \"section\": \"Data analysis\", \"text\": \"Four criteria of trustworthiness were applied to the qualitative analysis: credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability [41]. Credibility and dependability were strengthened through sustained engagement with the data, including multiple transcript reviews, robust coding, and peer debriefings where interdisciplinary scholars, including Black women and women who have experienced IPV, provided qualitative guidance. Additionally, the first author conducted member-checking, which included meeting with the 7 of the 15 participants who agreed to participate, to review our findings with them to ensure results matched their experiences and/or their perceptions of participants\\u2019 experiences to strengthen credibility. These participants were remunerated $45 via a gift card.\\u00a0Through these meetings, we found that our results aligned with their experiences and/or perceptions, and there was no need to modify or re-interpret results based on participant feedback. Transferability was strengthened by interviewing key informants from the parent study of purposively sampled Black women IPV survivors and providing a rich description of the participants, study context, results, and discussion of limitations to aid in the assessment of the extent to which study findings may transfer to other contexts and populations. Lastly, confirmability was strengthened by providing a detailed description of the research process.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"Tab1\"], \"section\": \"Participant characteristics\", \"text\": \"Table\\u00a01 presents demographic characteristics of the sample. The average age of the sample was 29.7 (4.1). The majority of the women self-reported experiencing both physical and sexual IPV (66.7%). About half of the women reported having never interacted with the police for IPV (53.3%). Most of the women finished college or graduate school (93.3%), were employed (86.7%), and made an annual salary above $30,000 (80.0%). All the women self-identified as cisgender (100.0%), and most of the women identified as heterosexual (93.3%). Lastly, slightly less than half the sample identified as Protestant (46.7%).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR34\", \"CR42\", \"CR43\", \"CR10\", \"CR44\", \"CR10\", \"CR10\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature that suggests that interacting with police as a primary justice approach for addressing IPV may be ineffective for Black women IPV survivors. Participants in this study were hesitant to rely on the police due to feared discrimination. This finding is consistent with previous research that suggests that Black women anticipate discrimination due to previous direct and indirect negative experiences with police [34, 42, 43]. This perception was salient for Black women who were devalued by police during childhood. As an extension of the historically inequitable treatment exhibited by the criminal legal system towards Black women, young Black girls have also been disproportionately punished by the criminal legal system, both historically and modernly, and are often perceived and treated as adults [10, 44]. Similar to stereotypes used to justify violence against Black women, Black girls are often racially stereotyped as devoid of innocence and are therefore not perceived as capable of being victimized [10]. This stereotype persists into Black womanhood, which contributes to the (both feared and realized) delegitimization of Black women\\u2019s experiences with IPV victimization and a failure by police to hold the person who caused harm accountable [10].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR8\", \"CR25\", \"CR10\", \"CR45\", \"CR32\", \"CR34\", \"CR10\", \"CR44\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Additionally, the race of a survivor\\u2019s partner influenced anticipated discrimination. Having a white male partner exacerbated anticipated discrimination and mistrust of the police, especially if this was concordant with police racial identity. Black women survivors in our sample believed the criminal legal system would protect their white male partners if they sought help for IPV from the police. This is likely because these partners are men who have historically and modernly benefitted from patriarchy and white supremacy [8, 25]. On the other hand, having a Black male partner evoked survivors\\u2019 need to protect their Black partners from harmful and racist police brutality and discrimination. These phenomena, as described by women in our sample, undermine Black women\\u2019s claims to survivorship, and perpetuate violence from multiple sources (e.g., partner and state) [10]. Black women survivors in our study recognized how they and their Black male partners already face punitive sanctions at the hands of multiple systems [45], and this recognition led to Black women survivors prioritizing the safety of their Black partner and community over the safety of themselves. These behaviors align with Afrocentric principles of collectivism [32] and are congruent with previous research that further describes such safety trade-offs among Black women IPV survivors [34]. Research suggests that this \\u201close-lose situation\\u201d may, in part, be remedied by engaging Black women\\u2019s communities in transforming justice praxis and social conditions to better serve Black women IPV survivors [10, 44].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR43\", \"CR46\", \"CR49\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"We also found that women who had prior experience interacting with the police for IPV experienced a non-survivor-centered justice and accountability response, which exacerbated existing trauma and ultimately made them regret relying on the police for help. Moreover, we found that survivors worried about their own safety and their children\\u2019s safety in addition to fearing that their abuse would be minimized by the police. This finding is consistent with research that documents instances of police contacting CPS, resulting in survivors losing custody of their children, and research documenting incarceration of the person who caused harm, despite the survivor\\u2019s wishes to avoid arrest [43, 46\\u201349]. The widespread fear and distrust of the police led women in this sample to rely on police for help only if IPV was severe or life-threatening, and they felt there was no alternative. Black women IPV survivors should be able to seek help promptly, without feeling compelled to wait until the abuse is severe, and the resulting help-seeking response should be supportive rather than harmful, enabling them to access help from traditional avenues. These findings reflect the intersecting forms of violence (e.g., partner and state) that Black women IPV survivors undergo and the need for alternative justice approaches, particularly separate from the criminal legal system.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR50\", \"CR51\", \"CR51\", \"CR52\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"When thinking about IPV justice preferences, Black women IPV survivors in our sample preferred that both they and their partners undergo therapy and counseling, individually and/or together, to foster a holistic accountability process. While not all partners were Black men in this study, many Black women partner with Black men, and it is important to acknowledge that there may be socio-cultural barriers for Black men to receive these services [50]. These socio-cultural barriers include historical trauma, stigma, mistrust, cost, lack of mental health education, and access to services [51]. These socio-cultural barriers are further complicated by Black masculinity which does not socialize Black boys and men to be receptive to mental health services and psychotherapy [51, 52]. Therefore, there may be some cultural disconnect between Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 recommendations for their partners, and Black men who caused harm\\u2019s willingness to engage in these recommendations. Transformative justice practiced in Black communities may be used to help shift Black men\\u2019s perceptions of therapy and counseling services and leverage resources to connect Black women IPV survivors and their partners to therapy services in a survivor-centered approach to IPV justice.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR53\", \"CR55\", \"CR15\", \"CR53\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 preference for housing security as a form of resource support powerfully illustrates the necessity of addressing basic needs and providing tangible resources as part of a holistic justice response for Black women experiencing IPV. This finding aligns with previous research highlighting the critical importance of housing stability for Black women IPV survivors [53\\u201355]. Currently, IPV resources are heavily geared towards policing, criminal legal responses, and temporary shelter, rather than helping survivors remain in their communities and meet their daily needs [15, 53]. One important implication that can be drawn from this finding is the need to transform larger societal systems to be more equitable for these women. Communities can lead transformation by leveraging resources to help Black women IPV survivors meet basic needs, thereby collectively supporting survivors in holding their partners accountable, achieving sustained safety, and exercising their agency.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR56\", \"CR58\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Children who are exposed to interparental IPV are more likely to experience IPV themselves, a pattern referred to as the \\u201cintergenerational transmission of violence\\u201d [56\\u201358]. Survivors in this sample desired collective community responsibility to educate children about IPV and healthy relationships to help disrupt this intergenerational pattern and promote IPV prevention broadly. Sites for education and prevention that participants described included community schools and churches. These findings support the assertion that Black women IPV survivors do not see their ideal justice response as punitive, but as holistic. Survivors see their ideal justice response as one that does not rely on the state, but rather involves a collective, community-based approach that centers on prevention and intervention. As such, community members like educators, church leaders, and advocates should be involved in the transformative justice process for Black women IPV survivors and their children to promote holistic justice.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR24\", \"CR59\", \"CR60\", \"CR61\", \"CR62\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Transformative justice has been a longstanding practice in Black communities as an alternative approach to addressing IPV and providing options outside of the criminal legal system [24]. Given that practices that align with transformative justice are preferred by Black women IPV survivors, future research should focus on how to implement and use transformative justice for IPV to uplift Black communities and amplify their voices. However, research and guidance on implementing transformative justice for Black women IPV survivors and their communities remains scant. Kim et al. [59] conducted a study among nine domestic violence and sexual assault organizations to understand barriers and facilitators of implementing a transformative justice model approach into provider organizations and found that aligning organizational values with transformative justice principles, prioritizing training, and incorporating services for the person who caused harm were among methods to facilitate implementation of an intervention model aligned with transformative justice into community-based organizations. This study can provide valuable insights for implementing transformative justice in Black communities. However, it is important to acknowledge that while this study included organizations serving intersectional groups such as Asian and Latinx cisgender women, immigrant, and refugee populations, it did not include organizations primarily focused on serving Black women. Given the historical and social context for Black women and their communities, it is crucial to prioritize the unique experiences and preferences of the focal Black community to ensure the transformative justice approach implemented is tailored to meet their specific needs. Relatedly, future research should use community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods to facilitate the co-creation, co-design, and co-development of transformative justice with researchers [60]. CBPR is well-aligned with intersectionality\\u2019s principles of reflecting community realities and priorities, fostering equitable partnerships, and interpreting research findings within community contexts, which can be used to facilitate the dissemination and translation of findings to drive transformational social change for Black women IPV survivors and their communities [61]. Moreover, recent research has explored incorporating transformative justice praxis into domestic violence intervention programs [62]. While integrating transformative justice principles may bolster a survivor-centered approach of domestic violence intervention programs, caution is warranted when integrating these principles into formal services linked to the criminal legal system. This is crucial to avoid undermining the core foundation of the transformative justice movement as separate from the criminal legal system.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC11459893\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"CR37\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"This study has limitations that warrant consideration. Our sample was comprised primarily of middle-class Black women who had attained at least some college education. Therefore, these findings may not be transferrable to other populations of Black women IPV survivors, such as women who are living at or below the poverty line or who are more socioeconomically marginalized. Further, these findings are likely not transferrable outside of the United States because the nature of justice responses may differ across contexts. We did not have geographical location information such as urbanicity of participants\\u2019 setting available to us to reflect on. Future research should include this important information since it may influence how Black women IPV survivors perceive the police. Since our sample consists of survivors from various communities across the United States, we believe that findings reflect diverse experiences and perspectives. Next, since these interviews were conducted between 2020 and 2022, it is possible that women experienced changes to IPV reporting due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We broadly inquired about Black women IPV survivors\\u2019 experiences with police but did not specifically focus on their encounters during the pandemic. Therefore, we cannot distinguish between their experiences before and during the pandemic. However, we did ask multiple questions about how the pandemic impacted their experiences of IPV. Here, COVID-19 pandemic-specific coercive control impacted their IPV experiences during this time [37].\"}]"

Metadata

"{\"issue-copyright-statement\": \"\\u00a9 BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2024\"}"