Citation

Adams J. Ethnography 2009; 10(2): 185-211.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1466138108099591

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

■ Although the civil restraining order is the most commonly sought legal initiative to combat intimate partner violence in British Columbia (BC), no known qualitative research has assessed the application process, and previous quantitative research presents mixed findings. Using interviews, observations, and textual analyses, this institutional ethnography critically analyzes the civil restraining order application process in the BC Provincial Court. Particular attention is paid to disjunctures between abused women's experiential knowledge and what becomes formally known to practitioners who manage their cases. Findings unveil that abused women's lived experience with violence is transformed and shaped into accounts in which their safety needs disappear. Court practitioners become immersed in textually mediated activity within a legal ruling apparatus that emphasizes timely completion of a large quantity of cases, with little or no commitment to quality solutions.