Jessica Miles (Pace University - Elisabeth Haub School of Law) has recently posted to SSRN their paper, Disgusted Judges and Domestic Violence.  

Here is the abstract: Domestic violence is disgusting. Seeing a person with a bruised face or black eye can make us cringe. Reading a graphic description of a physical or sexual assault by an intimate partner can lead to revulsion. Like the rest of us, judges experience disgust-both consciously and subconsciously-when confronted with evidence of abuse in intimate relationships. These feelings of disgust shape the judicial system's responses to domestic violence in non-obvious ways. 

In the minority of cases which seem to be "clear cut" (e.g., involving recent and corroborated physical or sexual violence), judicial disgust with defendants found to have perpetrated domestic violence may promote entry of civil protection orders (CPOs). But social science research and court-based studies strongly suggest that judicial disgust with domestic violence operates to the detriment of survivors in the majority of CPO cases which present as more "ambiguous" (e.g., "he said/she said" cases). 

This Article argues that judicial disgust leads to the denial of relief to many domestic violence survivors in CPO cases because disgust promotes subconscious victim blaming and avoidance responses, which, in turn, undermine accuracy in adjudication and undercut legislative intent to protect survivors. Ultimately, disgusted judges are more likely to dismiss meritorious petitions for protection from domestic violence and to disregard procedural justice concerns. 

State courts and legislatures should implement legal reforms to address the problem of judicial disgust with domestic violence. In addition, legal education providers at all levels (i.e., for law students, lawyers, and judges) should offer courses on emotional regulation skills to reduce the potential negative effects of disgust and other emotions on legal practice and adjudication. Finally, this Article implores social scientists to further explore the impact of disgust on people’s responses to domestic violence, with a new and specific focus on the context of adjudication, in order to aid efforts to promote access to legal relief for survivors.

Read more:

Miles, Jessica, Disgusted Judges and Domestic Violence (December 23, 2024). Available at SSRN: or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5088680