domestic violence

This is Associate Professor Di Turgoose and Dr R E McKie’s 6th blog in a series of 6 on their work on pets and domestic abuse. The focus of this blog in on the international reach of their work in the autumn of 2019 at the European Conference on Domestic Violence conference.

In September 2019 at the 3^rd Bi-annual European Conference on Domestic Violence (ECDV) held in Oslo, Norway, Di delivered a paper on our work on pets and domestic abuse. The ECDV is viewed as the greatest platform for international impact on the conference circuit for domestic violence and abuse. Over 800 delegates from 80 countries were in attendance and our contribution at the event was paramount in sustaining and continuing to build and develop our work in this area.

The role of animals as victims within the Criminal Justice System (CJS) has come under some scrutiny; albeit the literature is both sporadic and fragmented (e.g. Moore, 2005; Madeline, 2000). Nevertheless, some researchers have also begun to engage in an ontological evaluation of animals as victims of crime in England and wales as have we (see Flynn and Hall 2017 for example).

However, one under explored area is the role of pets and their victim status in domestic abuse ’cases’. At the conference, Di presented the findings of our small empirical research project on undergraduate trainee criminal justice practitioner’s interpretations of agency and victimization with pets in domestic abuse situations. For us, engaging these future and emerging practitioners in this area of research and ascertaining their perspectives is integral for meeting some of the future challenges in research and practice in these areas if change is to be realised.

Our paper was entitled ‘Non-Human Animals at the Intersection of Domestic Violence; The Call for anthropocentricism to GIVE WAY!

Our findings indicated that initially students’ views were challenged by the notion that pets might be considered independent agents of victimization. However, they began to recognise the relevance of considering anthropocentric views in relation to domestic abuse and pets. The themes raised have practice and pedagogical worth which requires further study. At the time of writing we have secured ethical approval for a project to advance our research further in this area.

During the conference Di was invited to meet the Mayor of Oslo at the Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is presented annually as a thank you for our ground breaking research committed to advancing an understanding of domestic abuse across species.

An outcome of Di presenting our work on the international domestic abuse stage, is the fostering of links to collaborate with academics across countries. It has led to developing key areas of research and impact including the creation and expansion of networking opportunities and the emerging knowledge transfer from our work to others in the field. Importantly, this has set the next step towards our research focused agenda to create an environment for ‘greening’ the domestic violence and abuse agenda addressing speciesism in the research and practice of domestic abuse and pet abuse.

In terms of outcomes/next steps Di and Ruth are working towards achieving the following 3 key targets in 2020-2021.

Knowledge transfer and the sharing of creative innovations in this emerging cross- field, with the intent of greening the domestic violence and abuse agenda by addressing speciesism.
The creation and expansion of networking opportunities across disciplines/sectors
The facilitation of an open dialogue between key stakeholders.

#domesticviolence #domesticabuse #pets #speciesism #anthropocentric #companionanimals

Dr Ruth E. McKie is a Senior Lecturer in the Community & Criminal Justice Division at DMU. Ruth’s PhD explored climate change denial & criminology. She is subject expert in Environmental Crime & Harm, researching various crimes e.g. environmental crime & animal abuse. Contact Ruth on ruth.mckie@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @ruthmckie1

Di Turgoose is a Teacher Fellow & Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU. She is a pracademic with 20 year’s work experience in the Criminal Justice System with perpetrators & victims of crime. She is subject expert in domestic abuse for the MOJ. Contact Di at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @pracademiccrime

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied. However, quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

If you feel you might be interested in submitting a guest blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this

This is Associate Professor Di Turgoose and Dr Ruth E. McKie’s 5th blog post in a series of 6 on pets and domestic abuse. This post focuses on the national reach of their work in the summer of 2019 at the ‘Hidden Victims’ panel of the British Society of Criminology (BSC) Annual conference where Di and Ruth were invited to present by the @victims BSC research group. You can access the victims research website here https://www.britsoccrim.org/victims-network/).

We were invited to contribute an academic paper to the Victimology Research Group Annual Panel on our work on pets and domestic abuse at the Annual BSC conference. You can access the British Society of Criminology website here (https://www.britsoccrim.org/conference/2019-bsc-annual-conference/).

The conference is the highlight of the criminologist’s calendar for the year in the UK with delegates travelling from across the world to attend. This provided us with a national platform to discuss our work bridging the boundaries between traditional victimology and a victimology that incorporates animal abuse and domestic abuse. Thus, we relished the opportunity of presenting to this audience which consisted of victimology experts in the domestic violence and abuse field, particularly as they may have been less familiar/unfamiliar with the concepts of speciesism and argumentation on human-animal relationships.

Our paper argued that the concept of denial of agency is equally applicable to the underexplored area of non-human animals namely pets as hidden victims of domestic abuse. We incorporated perspectives from eco-feminism and green criminology to challenge speciesism in the traditional Criminal Justice System and its practices in England and Wales. In doing so, we proposed a theoretical and ontological diversification within the field of domestic abuse studies, to help give voice to non-humans as independent agents that experience domestic abuse.

Our paper was titled beyond Domestic Violence, Companion Animals and Independent Agency: Why as criminologists we need to converse beyond speciesism, towards an intersectional approach. You can access our paper here https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/18323

Through this presentation we planned to start a conversation that companion animals/pets should be recognised as victims experiencing domestic abuse and therefore worthy of victimhood status in their own ‘right.’ Following our paper others have contacted us to thank us for highlighting the issue, bringing awareness to it, and inform us of their interest and wish to collaborate. At the time of writing we have subsequently been granted ethical approval for an empirical mixed methods study to progress our work in this area in 2020.

#domesticviolence #companionanimals #pets #hiddenvictims #speciesism #eco-feminism

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied. However quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

If you feel you might be interested in submitting a guest blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this.

SVDV Research Group

Non-Human Animals at the Intersection of Domestic Violence: The Call for anthropocentricism to GIVE WAY!

Beyond Domestic Violence, Companion Animals and Independent Agency: Why as criminologists we need to converse beyond speciesism, towards an intersectional approach