| Name: | Professor Patricia Easteal AM |
| Position: | Professor |
| Organisation: | University of Canberra |
| Department/Division: | Law |
| Primary Areas: | Human rights and civil liberties |
| Law, crime and justice |
| Expertise: | Violence against women; women and the law; discrimination and the law; domestic violence; rape; law and society; justice |
| Organisation type: | Academic |
| Website: | www.canberra.edu.au |
| Notes: | Dr Easteal has a strong commitment to legal education derived from a multi-disciplinary background. Her aim in teaching is for students to acquire the intellectual tools and self-confidence to become independent and lifelong learners through actively questioning conventional wisdom and assumptions about the neutrality of key legal constructs like ‘reasonable’ and ‘relevant’ and by reflecting on th |
| Expert's direct contacts: | |
| Phone: | 02 6201 5779 |
| Mobile: | 0405143702 |
| This expert is available for: | Research collaboration, Consulting work, Expert witness work, Board/committee positions, Conference presentation opportunities, Other speaking engagements |
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Media Contact:
(Note: For journalists only) | |
| Contact: | Ed O'Daly |
| Phone: | 02 6201 2441 |
| After Hours: | 0408 829 618 |
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| Publications: |  Dr Easteal has written or edited 13 books and over 100 academic journal articles, government reports and newspaper feature stories that have brought to light various issues relating to the legal system and justice for women and other minorities. Her books include: Real Rape, Real Pain: Help for Women Sexually Assaulted by Male Partners (2006), Less Than Equal: Women and the Australian Legal System (2001), Balancing the Scales: Rape, Law Reform and Australian Culture (1998), Shattered Dreams, Marital Violence Against Women: The Overseas-born in Australia (1996), Voices of the Survivors (1994), Killing the Beloved: Homicide between Adult Sexual Intimates (1993), Without Consent: Rape Conference Proceedings (1993) and Women and the Law Conference Proceedings (1993). Most have been distributed globally and are found in university libraries around the world. There are frequent references in particular to Voices of the Survivors, Killing the Beloved, Balancing the Scales, Less Than Equal and Real Rape, Real Pain on international internet sites.
Much of her work has been published in international journals, including for example, a 2001 article, ‘A Kaleidoscope View of Law and Culture: The Australian Sex Discrimination Act 1984’ which appeared in The International Journal of the Sociology of Law, a sociolegal journal published by Elsevier. This paper critiqued the SDA and offered empirical analysis with a cultural contextual description of this Australian discrimination law to an international audience. ‘Women in Australian Prisons: The Cycle of Abuse and Dysfunctional Environments,’ was also published in 2001 in The Prison Journal, a highly cited American journal published by Sage. This paper demonstrated insight and intellectual rigour equating the situation for women in prison (through empirical research) with the dynamics of the dysfunctional family.
Dr Easteal also publishes in high quality Australian law, criminology, social welfare and medical journals. For instance, she co-authored an article on domestic violence that appeared in the Medical Journal of Australia, This is a well-cited journal that is widely read by health practitioners. Indeed, Patricia’s research is used by academics, practitioners, law reform bodies, government and by the community. For example, her work has been cited in court cases including the High Court in Fardon v Attorney-General for the State of Queensland [2004] HCA 46 (1 October 2004) and U v U [2002] HCA 36 (5 September 2002). The latter was a major relocation case, which cited Easteal, P. W., J. Behrens and L Young, 2000 ‘Relocation Decisions in Canberra and Perth: A Blurry Snapshot,’ Australian Journal of Family Law, 14, pp 234-258.
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