Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-22-2016 12:00 AM Law and Abuse: Representations of Intimate Partner Homicide in Law Procedural Dramas Jaime A. Campbell The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Sasha Torres The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Media Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Jaime A. Campbell 2016 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons Recommended Citation Campbell, Jaime A., "Law and Abuse: Representations of Intimate Partner Homicide in Law Procedural Dramas" (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4076. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4076 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Abstract In the early 1970s, feminists began to raise awareness about intimate partner violence (IPV), transforming it from a private family matter into a social problem. Popular media representations of IPV, which exposed the extent and severity of the problem, played a key role in this transition. Surprisingly, however, there has been very little research on media representations of IPV or intimate partner homicide (IPH). This thesis conducts a critical discourse analysis on recent media representations of abused women who kill their abusive partners in law procedural dramas, a genre of television that both commands a wide prime- time audience and impacts viewers’ understanding of the legal system.