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Family Advocate

Intimate Partner Violence

Implicit Bias in the Legal Profession When Working with Survivors of Domestic Violence

Larissa Mañón Mervin

Summary

  • Many people who exhibit implicit biases understand that the bias is wrong at an intellectual level yet still behave in a way that suggests that they are biased.
  • Domestic violence affects all demographic groups but disproportionately affects women of color, people of lower socioeconomic means, and those in the LGBTQI+ community.
  • Practice pointers to help mitigate the effects of implicit bias in your work as a family law practitioner
Implicit Bias in the Legal Profession When Working with Survivors of Domestic Violence
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What is implicit bias? Implicit bias is when someone unconsciously believes something about another group of people. The key word here is unconscious. Since it’s an unconscious thought pattern, it’s harder to target and address than an intentional explicit bias or prejudice. In fact, many people who exhibit implicit biases (newsflash: we all have them!), understand that the bias is wrong at an intellectual and fundamental level, and yet still behave in a way that suggests that they are biased. This happens for many reasons, such as one’s upbringing, messages we’ve heard over the years, experiences we’ve had, what we see portrayed in the media, societal perceptions, and stereotypes of groups. It also shows up in all facets of life, including the legal profession, and family law. It is present when we conduct client interviews, negotiate contracts, speak with opposing counsel, attend court, preside over court, make strategic decisions, and interact with our colleagues and bar community.

is a document that outlines how you and the other parent will raise your children after you are divorced or separated. It defines how you and the other parent will make major decisions for your children (decision-making or custody) and how the children will spend time with each of you (visitation or parenting time). It will be reviewed by a judge, and, if approved, it will become an order of the court.

This is all the truer for survivors of domestic violence when they are seeking protection and supportive services. Throughout the course of an abusive relationship, many survivors frequently interact with the justice system and adjacent systems. That is why it is critical for practitioners to build cultural humility to allow for more trauma-informed representation. What is cultural humility? Cultural humility is a dedicated commitment to self-reflection and learning about your culture, other cultures, and how those impact your beliefs. It is different from “cultural competency,” because it acknowledges that no one will ever be fully culturally competent in a culture that is not their own but should rather work to learn more about how their culture and experiences impact unconscious biases towards others.

Disproportionate Impacts of Domestic Violence

The unfortunate reality is that while domestic violence affects all demographics, it does disproportionately affect women of color and the LGBTQ+ community. It is important to understand this reality and the data behind this truth because it will inevitably impact how we work with survivors, especially if we have implicit biases about their cultures that we don’t even know exist.

Black Survivors of Domestic Violence

Approximately 41% of Black women have experienced physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime compared to 31% of White women, 30% of Hispanic women and 15% of Asian or Pacific Islander women. Matthew J. Breiding et al., Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (U.S. 2011). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black and American Indian/Alaska Native women experienced the highest rates of homicide and over half of those were connected to intimate partner violence. LGBTQ Black/African American victims are more likely to experience physical intimate partner violence, compared to those who do not identify as Black/African American. CDC, Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Resource for Action (2017). As Jazelle Hunt said in her 2015 Center for Health Journalism report Field Lessons from Reporting on Black Women Survivors of Sexual Violence, “[m]any cultural considerations can hinder healing for Black women survivors: the burdensome expectation of strong Black womanhood; the power of the Black church; the desire to shield Black men; and the lack of self-care examples are all real dynamics Black women survivors endure.”

Latine Survivors of Domestic Violence

About 23.4% of Hispanic or Latina women are victimized by intimate partners. Nat’l Inst. of Justice, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence-Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (2020). Hispanic women were more likely than non-Hispanic women to report they had been raped by a current or former intimate partner. Puerto Rican women experience the highest rates of IPV during pregnancy compared to other Latine subgroups. Sarah Torres, et al., Abuse During and Before Pregnancy: Prevalence and Cultural Correlates, 5 Violence and Victims (2000). Additionally, there are various cultural considerations that provide context for this data, including language access barriers, mistrust of institutions, documentation concerns, machismo, marianismo, and financial barriers.

Asian and Pacific Islander Survivors of Domestic Violence

Between 21% and 55% of Asian and Pacific Islander women in the United States experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime. Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, Statistics on Violence Against API Women. In a six-year fatality study among Asian victims, 68% of victims were intimate partners (current, estranged, or ex-partners); 83% of homicide perpetrators were men. Children were the second largest group of victims, and the parents of wives and girlfriends were the third largest group. About 70% of Cambodians, 61% of Chinese, 80% of Koreans, 79% of South Asians, and 72% of Vietnamese men and women reported being hit regularly as children. Asian Task Force, Asian Family Violence Report. Much like the other communities of color mentioned, the Asian Pacific Islander community also had certain cultural considerations which provided context for the data, such as respect for authority, self-blame, hesitance to share, gender norms, honor killings, contract killings, dowry related killings, killings in home country, being forced to commit suicide, and religion.

Indigenous Survivors of Domestic Violence

The incidences of domestic violence vary by tribe but is higher than the national average. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993–2010 (Sept. 29, 2015). According to the CDC, Black and American Indian/Alaska Native women experienced the highest rates of homicide and over half of those were connected to intimate partner violence. About 37.5% of Native American and Alaska Native women are victims of IPV in a lifetime, including rape, physical assault, and stalking. Nat’l Inst. of Justice, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence-Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (2020). Some of the barriers their communities face includes historical and societal oppression. mistrust of White Americans and American systems, housing barriers, language barriers, poverty concerns, and spirituality.

LGBTQ+ Survivors of Domestic Violence

A staggering 43.8% of lesbian women and 61.1% of bisexual women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime, as opposed to 35% of heterosexual women. Additionally, 26% of gay men and 37.3% of bisexual men have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, in comparison to 29% of heterosexual men. In a study of male same sex relationships, only 26% of men called the police for assistance after experiencing near-lethal violence. In 2012, fewer than 5% of LGBTQ survivors of intimate partner violence sought orders of protection. Transgender victims are more likely to experience intimate partner violence in public, compared to those who do not identify as transgender. Bisexual victims are more likely to experience sexual violence, compared to people who do not identify as bisexual. LGBTQ victims on public assistance are more likely to experience intimate partner violence compared to those who are not on public assistance. Nat’l Domestic Violence Hotline, Domestic Violence and the LGBTQ Community.

Like other marginalized groups, there are several barriers that exist that provide context for this data. Threatening to “out” the other partner can allow for the abusive partner to control the survivor. Bullying and hate crimes are also a very real threat, and if the victim has experienced this sort of behavior before due to their sexual orientation, they know what is possible. Additionally, there is a mistrust of institutional and societal acceptance, given historical context, which may make one more hesitant to reach out for help.

Economic Status

While it is commonly known that survivors of domestic violence experience significant economic barriers to safety, given the potential financial connections to their abuser, those barriers unfortunately still create implicit and explicit bias when survivors try to access services. Pursuing legal remedies can be difficult because it leads to legal fees, missed time from work, and an inability to secure counsel – especially as under resourced as many legal services organizations are who primarily provide legal services to this population of clients. Inst. for Women’s Pol’y Res., Intersections of Domestic Violence and Economic Security (Oct. 2016). As a result, many survivors are forced to litigate their cases on their own or with counsel who are trauma uninformed, leading to poorer outcomes since judges are ethnically prohibited from helping pro se parties litigate their cases. Additionally, when their abusers are held criminally accountable, their one source of income—for themselves and their children—may go out the window if the abuser ends up in jail or loses their job, leading to even more financial constraints. As a result, survivors may choose not to pursue litigation and may choose to return to their abuser. This causes up to 74% of survivors to remain in abusive situations for financial reasons alone. Id. As a result, they regrettably receive a slew of judgment, implicit or explicit, from various actors within the legal system and institutions when they try to access future services.

Practice Pointers

Now that we have an understanding of what implicit bias is and how it impacts our interactions with all people, including our clients, colleagues, and adversaries; we have a better idea of the importance of cultural humility; and we have reviewed the data about the higher rates of domestic violence among marginalized communities, we hopefully understand the importance of implementing practice pointers to best minimize these inevitable biases.

Be an Active Listener and Open to Learning

Again, the very idea and spirit of cultural humility is that we should constantly be engaging in self-reflection and seeking to better understand others’ experiences. Only when we do that can we truly begin to lessen judgment and provide better services to survivors of domestic violence. We should seek to learn about their lived experiences and learn about the cultural considerations affecting them individually, so we can better meet them where they are at. Most importantly, as we learn more, we should transfer that into action and implement new techniques and tools to better serve our clients.

Provide the Necessary Resources to Address Barriers to Services

Once we’ve actively listened to their stories and they have informed us of what their needs are and the barriers to those needs that exist, we should seek to provide any resources we may have to address those barriers. This includes access to language and disability services. Likewise, we should consider religious considerations and how those barriers impact our services. We should ensure that our practices are safe spaces, with trauma-informed and culturally humble staff. If our clients are living in legal, food, or medical deserts, we should consider how that will impact their case and what we can do to alleviate those concerns.

Continuously Reassess and Challenge Your Biases

Start from this point—remember that the survivor is ALWAYS the best person to make decisions about their lives, their cases, and their identified affinity groups. They have lived it. Seek training opportunities to learn more about how survivors are experiencing domestic violence and the best practices to represent them. Constantly expose yourself to new cultures and groups. Be curious about others, seeking to continuously learn more. Make sure you have accountability in this process, too. Have colleagues, family, and friends, who will respectfully and lovingly challenge you to be better—and then do that.

The reality is that intimate partner violence affects all walks of life. People and families of all socioeconomic statuses, races, genders, and ethnicities experience domestic violence. However, as we have explored, intimate partner violence does disproportionately affect underrepresented groups, much for the same reasons those groups are disproportionately impacted in other ways. As a result, we want to be sure we are employing all the necessary tools and tips available to us to become more culturally humble practitioners and limit the effect of the implicit biases we all inevitably have.

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