Book Review of Domestic Violence
Book Review on “Domestic Violence: The 12 Things You Aren’t Supposed to Know” Written By: Thomas James
T.B. James has written a hard-hitting and incisive book focusing on current myths about domestic violence in the United States that turns the conventional approach on its ear (Domestic Violence: The 12 Things You Aren’t Supposed to Know, 2003). A practicing attorney in Minnesota and founder/director of Better Resolutions Mediation Service, James’s short, quotable book focuses on empirical studies and an extensive review of the literature to make a powerful argument that women are as violent as men, while our legal system is biased against men and refuses to hold females accountable when they are violent (James, 2003).
Based on this information, James’ first twelve chapters are small essays, each addressing one of the dozen things cited in his title. In the 13th and final chapter, he marshals his chilling conclusions from the research literature: men are victimized more often than women and violence against them by females is just as severe as violence against women. Women are the primary abusers of children and most of their young victims are male. Criminal statistics show, in spite of a rising chorus of voices denouncing violence against women, that violence against males over at least the past twenty years has been rising, while conversely, violence against women has been decreasing. The same statistics reveal that violence perpetrated by females, in general, has been on the rise (James, 2003).
In his most startling chapters, James makes a forceful but controversial assertion that domestic violence against men, rather than racial crimes, are the most under-reported crimes, citing factors that include masculine cultural conditioning about not admitting they are victims and men’s real fears about seeking justice in a legal system that favors women. James demonstrates systemic bias by some lawyers, police and judges
T.B. James has written a hard-hitting and incisive book focusing on current myths about domestic violence in the United States that turns the conventional approach on its ear (Domestic Violence: The 12 Things You Aren’t Supposed to Know, 2003). A practicing attorney in Minnesota and founder/director of Better Resolutions Mediation Service, James’s short, quotable book focuses on empirical studies and an extensive review of the literature to make a powerful argument that women are as violent as men, while our legal system is biased against men and refuses to hold females accountable when they are violent (James, 2003).
Based on this information, James’ first twelve chapters are small essays, each addressing one of the dozen things cited in his title. In the 13th and final chapter, he marshals his chilling conclusions from the research literature: men are victimized more often than women and violence against them by females is just as severe as violence against women. Women are the primary abusers of children and most of their young victims are male. Criminal statistics show, in spite of a rising chorus of voices denouncing violence against women, that violence against males over at least the past twenty years has been rising, while conversely, violence against women has been decreasing. The same statistics reveal that violence perpetrated by females, in general, has been on the rise (James, 2003).
In his most startling chapters, James makes a forceful but controversial assertion that domestic violence against men, rather than racial crimes, are the most under-reported crimes, citing factors that include masculine cultural conditioning about not admitting they are victims and men’s real fears about seeking justice in a legal system that favors women. James demonstrates systemic bias by some lawyers, police and judges