Page 528 begins here
process of issuing restraining orders, even though this area is one of the most significant encounters battered
women have with the legal system. Most studies focus on the police, so "what is needed is further research
on the role that judges play in women's efforts to escape violence" (p. 7).
The empirical part of the study consists of three sources of data: Ptacek's observations of eighteen judges in
two Massachusetts districts-one middle class and largely white, the other lower class and largely African-American
and Latino; his study of over one hundred restraining order reports in these jurisdictions; interviews with forty
women who sought restraining orders in these courts. Ptacek uses the contrasting racial and class composition
of the two districts and the judicial responses to support a second hypothesis (above and beyond his main hypothesis
concerning the importance of judicial style or demeanor in the restraining order process),
which deals with the roles of class and race in the response to battering. "Class is important because class
position has a significant bearing on women's vulnerability to battering and femicide. Race is important because
racism creates poverty and poses unique barriers to women's self-seeking" (p. 39; Chapter 2, generally).
Ptacek alleges that researchers have ignored race and class. However, this claim is somewhat overstated, and Ptacek's
analysis of class and race is too limited to take us beyond rather simplistic causal assumptions and academic clich‚s
about the effects of these factors. The evidence concerning race and class is very suggestive, but Ptacek does
not spend enough time working it out.
Ptacek's central concern is the nature of the restraining order experience. He construes the restraining order
as an "interactive process, a negotiation between women and the state over protection from violent and abusive
men," and seeks to answer two basic questions. How do judges treat battered women who enter their courtrooms
-- with impatience, irritation, even hostility? Or do they use their authority to show "concern for women's
safety and mobilize resources on their behalf?" (p. 6)
Turning to the courtroom, Ptacek focuses on judicial "demeanor" toward women and their abusers. Judicial
authority is exercised as "emotional labor," in which judges send, in Irving Goffman's term, "task-embedded
messages" (p. 99). Of the eighteen judges Ptacek observed, ten exhibited "good-natured demeanor,"
while eight did not (they engaged in "bureaucratic," "harsh," or overly "formal"
demeanor or behavior) (pp. 100-1). Interviews with women showed, not surprisingly, that the good-natured judges
had a more positive effect, making women feel better about going to court and more assured that the law cared about
their safety. This judicial response lowered the psychological or emotional barrier between vulnerable women and
the legal system.
Perhaps the most powerful chapter in the book deals with "Women's Experiences Seeking Restraining Orders,"
in which forty women who had sought restraining orders in the two districts were asked how they perceived their
court experiences. (Ch. 7) Most of the women (65%) were afraid to take out a restraining order due to threats
by their batterers and trepidation concerning the judicial system. "Yes-afraid of what he would do, think,
react, repercussions. It was an unbelievable big deal. Was scared to death.I was crying," one typical interviewee
remarked (pp. 145-6). Unfortunately, 62% of the men involved violated the orders. Nonetheless, 86% of the
Page 529 begins here
interviewees concluded that the restraining order eventually either stopped or reduced the violence, and that it
made them feel safer. One woman said, "It shows him that the law's on my side." Ptacek concludes, "For
a number of women, the restraining order process seems to have strengthened their sense that the violence was unjust
and that the state was obligated to intervene.most women felt supported by the process and left the court with
new resources that placed them in a better negotiating position with their partners" (pp. 165-6).
Despite its limited database, Ptacek's book shows how imperative it is for courts to be respectful and supportive
of battered women who seek restraining orders. The book is a worthwhile contribution to the literature on the
educational potential of the law by its application of the logic of this literature to the behavior and demeanor
of judges in everyday decisionmaking and interaction with parties before the court. The moral authority of the
law is at stake every time a judge faces a battered woman and her needs in the courtroom, to say nothing of the
woman's personal fate. It is a matter of simple justice.
*****************************************************************
Copyright 1999 by the author