Expert Testimony on Domestic Violence: A Discourse Analysis (Law and Society) (Law and Society, Recent Scholarship)

Hamilton examines the impact of social science evidence on legal reasoning in domestic violence cases. Relying on interdisciplinary theories and methodologies in law, she analyzes the text and rhetoric from a body of appellate opinions in which expert witnesses provided social science-based testimony about domestic violence. Expert testimony was highly influential on, yet was rarely challenged by, the appellate judges. From this body of judicial writings, Hamilton uncovers typologies of battered women, battering men, and abusive relationships. She also notes the discursive tension in the judicial opinions in the cases in which the common typologies did not apply well to the specific defendants, victims, or their circumstances based on the factual evidence in the underlying trials.