Rhetoric and Communication Perspectives on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

This book brings rhetorical, legal, and professional communication perspectives to the discourse surrounding policy-making efforts within the United States around two types of violent crimes against women: domestic violence and sexual assault. The authors propose that such analysis adds to our understanding of rhetorical concepts such as kairos, risk perception, moral panic, genre analysis, and identity theory. Overall, the goal is to demonstrate how rhetorical, legal, and professional communication perspectives work together to illuminate public discourse and conflict in such complicated and ongoing dilemmas as how to aid victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and how to manage the offenders of such crimes—social and cultural problems that continue to perplex the legal system and the social environment.

Amy D. Propen is Assistant Professor in the Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.Mary Lay Schuster is Professor in the Department of Writing Studies and Faculty Fellow in the Law School at the University of Minnesota, USA. She and Amy D. Propen are also co-authors of Victim Advocacy in the Courtroom: Persuasive Practices in Domestic Violence and Child Protection Cases.