Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 23(2) 2001: 121–134 Rethinking responses to ‘domestic violence’ in Australian indigenous communities Ann-Claire Larsen Centre for Social Research, Community Services, Education and Social Sciences, Edith Cowan University Alan Petersen School of Social Inquiry, Murdoch University Abstract: The United Nations’ response to violence against women was to adopt the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women in December, 1993 that recognized indigenous women to be especially vulnerable to violence. Australia’s initiatives during the 1990s included criminal justice reform, crisis service provision and community-based mediation programmes that have not proved altogether helpful for indigenous women. Given the intractable nature of violence against indigenous women, this paper holds that community-based programmes cannot work in isolation from criminal justice intervention. An approach to male-to-female violence, that views the criminal justice system not only as a means of punishment, but also as an institution for expressing human rights norms is advocated. Keywords: domestic violence, criminal justice system, human rights,Australia, indigenous people, punishment Women cause a lot of problems by nagging, bitching and emotionally hurting men. Men cannot bitch back, for hormonal reasons, and often have no recourse but violence. (Stapleton and Lane, 1999: 2) These comments, made by a magistrate in an anonymous survey published by a New South Wales Judicial Commission in 1999, and widely reported in the Australian media, reflect a not uncommon view regarding the ‘causes’ of male-to-female violence in intimate relationships. Dismissed by fellow magistrates as the ramblings of a ‘dinosaur’ judge, the comments draw heavily on popular stereotypes of male and female behaviours and biological expla- nations of violence. As several commentators outside the profession noted, they indicate an entrenched sexist bias in the criminal justice system, and lend Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law ISSN 0141-8033 print/ISSN 1469-9621 online © 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/09649060110035952