Untitled

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Ideologies and Families
in St. Louis Support Groups M. Ariel Cascio
Probability Discounting Along a
Wide Range of Amounts Josh Morris
The Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism:
The Intersection of Language, Law and the Global
War on Terrorism in El Salvador Michael Raish
Lesson from the Delegacia: Brazil’s All-Female
Police Stations and Their Applications to Culturally
Competent Services in the United States Paige Sweet
~WashingtonUniversityUndergraduateResearchDigest~Volume4•No.2spring•2009
Feature Articles
Summaries of Student Work
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Table of Contents
FOREWORD 3
ARTICLES
Autism Spectrum Disorders: Ideologies 5
and Families in St. Louis Support
Groups, M. Ariel Cascio
Probability Discounting Along a Wide 15
Range of Amounts, Josh Morris
The Special Law Against Acts of 23
Terrorism: The Intersection of
Language, Law and the Global War
on Terrorism in El Salvador,
Michael Raish
Lesson from the Delegacia: Brazil’s 31
All-Female Police Stations and Their
Applications to Culturally Competent
Services in the United States,
Paige Sweet
SUMMARIES OF
STUDENT WORK
Structural Analysis of a Bacterial 40
Potassium Channel Using Cadmium
Block of Cysteine Substituted Mutant
Channels, Yewande Alimi
Ischaemic Protection: Akt-Mediated 41
Signaling Mechanisms Operative After
Hypoxic Preconditioning in the Cerebral
Microvasculature, Somalee Banerjee
Daily Rhythms in Olfactory 42
Sensitivity, Gal Ben-Josef
Maximizing Sequence Coverage for 43
Antibody Characterization,
Michael Bevilacqua
Research and Development of 44
Novel Polymer Systems for Use in
Antibiofouling Coatings, Peter Billings
Aids to Conformational Analysis of 45
Histamine Using 4-Substituted
Imidazoles as Models, Stephanie Brosius
The Simpsons and the American 46
Electoral System: Public Dissatisfaction
in the 1996 Presidential Election,
Daniel Caldera
Nutrient-dependent Cell Size 47
Regulation in E. Coli, Patricia Cheung
Characterization of Correlations 48
Between Neurons in Multi-Sensory
Information Decoding, Sam Fok
Induced GFP and OVA Expression in 49
Mouse Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma
Cell Lines, Daniel Gealy
Ahdaf Soueif’s The Map of Love and 50
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children
as “Translational Literature,” Vivek Gupta
Transglutaminase-1 Gene Mutations in 51
Autosomal Recessive Congenital
Ichthyosis: An Update and Report of
23 Novel Mutations, Matthew Herman
Recreating the Medieval Landscape 52
of the Bishop’s Palace Fetternear,
Aberdeenshire Scotland, Lauren Hosek
Sometimes There’s a Man: Aggression, 53
Militarism, and Heroism in The Big
Lebowski, Eric Houtman

2
You Play Ball Like a Girl!—The 54
Historical Impact of the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League,
Kelsey Johnston
An Examination of Community 55
Gardens in Denmark, Daniel Kandy
From Anthem to Ethos: How Celtic 56
and Rangers Fan Anthems Explain the
Rivalry, David Klein
Light Noble Gas Diffusion in Genesis 57
Solar Wind Samples, Puneet Kollipara
The Taming of the Beast: Disney’s 58
Beauty and the Beast as a Model
of Female Imprisonment,
Mary Lindsay Krebs
Connectivity Mapping in the SCN: 59
Testing Roles for Glutamate in
Circadian Rhythms, Becca Krock
The Relationship Between Maternal 60
Communication Style and Preschoolers’
Depression Severity, Mackenzie Leonard
Atua of the Aga: A Comparison of 61
Ancestor Reverence in the Highlands
of Bali and Polynesia, Jamison Liang
Using Hairpin Knockdown Lines to 62
Screen for Modification of Position
Effect Variegation, Hongwei Liu,
Perry Morocco, Michelle Wang,
Micaela Blank, Greg Gandenberger
and Christopher Zugates
Modeling Migraine Headaches: 63
Nitroglycerin-induced Neuronal Activity
in Wildtype and Mutant CKIδ; T44A
Transgenic Mice, Sylvester Marshall III
Factors Driving U.S. Foreign Direct 64
Investment, Laura Meier
Cross-generational Effects of 65
Amphibian Larvae Removal:
Evidence for an Ecological Feedback,
Joseph R. Mihaljevic
Dielectric Withstanding Voltage (DWV) 66
IPC-2221A Standards Testing,
Jonathan Minder
Mutagenesis of the Cox-2 3'UTR to 67
Examine Apobec Complementation
Factor (ACF) Sequence and Structure
Specificityn, Christina Mosher
Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis 68
of Cilia Motion, Kate Nevin
What Happens When the Bloom 69
Comes Off the Rose? Priming
Memories of Political Revolution in
Post-Soviet Georgia, Thomas O’Brien
The Role of Subcortical Structures in 70
the Control of Attention, Chelsea Pearson
Methods for Star Telescope Error 71
Analysis in Astronomy, Jackson Pitts
Hierarchies of Resort and the 72
Effectiveness of Public Health
Interventions in Tanzania,
Sara Rasmussen
A Cope Rearrangement Based Route 73
for the Efficient Construction of
Hexahydroazulenes, Curtis Seizert
Risk Perception: A Cultural Context 74
for Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh,
Kristyna Solawetz
Optimizing Gerchberg-Saxton Phase 75
Retrieval, Michael Steinbock
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Volume 76
Analysis in Adolescent Twins with Major
Depressive Disorder, Meredith Stern
Numerical Integration Techniques 77
with Rational Landen Transformations,
Jessica Stigile
Determining the Role of Vip Neurons 78
in Circadian Rhythms, Daniel Sun
Circadian Gene Regulation of Bmal1 79
in Astrocytes, Adrienne Swanstrom
Stability Condition for Perturbations 80
on the Charge Distribution Near
Neutrality, Huajia Wang
The Effect of Fractional Acini in 81
Simulations of Long-range Diffusion
in Model Lungs, Michael Wang
Three-body Decay of 6
Be, 82
Timothy Wiser
Acoustic Source Localization Using 83
Microphone Arrays, Joshua York
UNDERGRADUATE 84
RESEARCH PEER
REVIEW BOARD

3
Foreword
In this volume of the Washington University Undergraduate Research Digest
(the WUURD), we feature the work of four students each of whom received
awards to conduct research from funds generously established on behalf of
the late Kathryn Hoopes and Andrea Biggs and administrated by the Office
of Undergraduate Research. Three of the authors’ work developed into a
Senior Honors Thesis. The research of junior Joshua Morris is on-going. The
manuscripts prepared by these students were selected for publication by the
members of the WUURD Peer Review Board and represent the outstanding
quality of undergraduate research at Washington University in St. Louis.
Two of the featured articles come from research in the diverse field of
Sociocultural Anthropology. M. Ariel Cascio’s research delves into the world
of family support groups for children with autism. It introduces the reader to
the varying definitions of Autism Spectrum Disorders and how the language
used to define the issue affects those who provide care for children “with
autism”-or “children who are autistic.” Her work illustrates the difficulties
encountered in gaining the trust of individuals in support communities
and how necessary their trust is to accessing information and interviews.
Mike Raish completed his anthropological research in El Salvador where he
conducted all interviews in Spanish. The timely investigation of the imple-
mentation of anti-terrorist legislation that resulted from 9/11 illuminates the
impact on civil rights the “Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism” has had in
that Latin American country. The study contributes important observations
which may be significant for the protection of human rights in El Salvador.
Focusing on one chapter of her Honors Thesis, Paige Sweet analyzes the
results of interviews she conducted with those associated with all-female
police stations in Brazil. The work suggests that by adapting aspects of these
women-centered programs, violence response programs in the United States
could better serve the diverse needs of immigrant women here, raising cultural
awareness in an increasingly diverse population. Her work demonstrates that
effective, real-world practices may result from the academic research of
undergraduates.
Joshua Morris reports research from within the field of Psychology on the
choices people make when considering immediate versus delayed or
probabilistic rewards. In the work, data collected from test subjects was fitted
to a mathematical model that predicts the subjective value of a reward.

4
Respectfully,
KRISTIN SOBOTKA
Editor
Unanticipated results indicate that people make choices differently when the
probabilistic value of a reward changes versus when the reward is delayed.
These results have led to significant further research into how individuals
make decisions about money.
The Summaries of Student Work illustrate the wide diversity of research
conducted by undergraduates at Washington University. The editors of the
WUURD would like to recognize the outstanding work of all undergraduate
researchers and the faculty who mentor and guide them. Each project serves
to increase the universal body of knowledge associated with both current and
historical issues within their disciplines.
Finally the editor would like to express deep appreciation for the work
performed by the WUURD Peer Review Board. In particular, Sarah Frazier’s
service for the past two and one half years merits recognition. Sarah has
worked with the authors of three feature articles, some in fields of study close
to her own, and another quite different. We will be sorry to see her go and
wish her well in her future graduate studies.
It is our hope that readers are informed and inspired by the work presented
in the Spring 2009 WUURD. We welcome feedback and look forward to
presenting future volumes to the Washington University community and to
an increasingly broader audience.

5
ABSTRACT
This project takes an anthropological approach to autism spectrum
disorders (ASD) by interrogating the historical and cultural context of
ASD within families. It draws from research conducted over summer
and fall of 2008 within support groups for parents of children with
ASD. It addresses three main philosophies that see ASD as (1) a
disability to be treated; (2) a disease to be cured; or (3) a positive
“neuro-variation” to be embraced and treated only in ways that assist,
not change, the individual. This thesis analyzes the presence of these
philosophies in the discourse of parents in support groups, and
professionals in the St. Louis field of autism. I find all three are
present and often co-existing within one informant’s descriptions.
Informed by these approaches, this project looks at the affect of ASD
on constructions of American families. I find that ASD challenges
expectations of childhood, while simultaneously emphasizing
expectations of motherhood and writing out expectations of
fatherhood. This work aims to de-naturalize assumptions regarding
medicine and family, put different viewpoints in conversation, and
serves as a pilot study for further research. These three goals ultimately
may lead to new avenues of research for ASD theory and practice.
FACULT Y MENTOR: REBECCA LESTER, PH.D.,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SO CIO CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLO GY
Professor Lester’s research focuses on medical anthropology, gender,
embodiment, religion and ritual, psychological anthropology and
cross-cultural psychiatry. Linking these issues at various points is her
focus on gender, self and the body. She is particularly interested in
anorexia as a contemporary ascetic practice. Her current research
explores the embodied terrains of sexuality and desire in the anorexic
condition.
ACKNOWLED GEMENTS
This study was funded by the Office of Undergraduate Research and
advised by Dr. Rebecca Lester in the anthropology department. I
would like to thank them both for enabling this project. I also want to
thank several individuals who have advised me formally or informally
throughout the project: Bradley Stoner, Paul Shattuck, Leonard Green,
Gianni Gardiner, and Liz Nickrenz. Finally, my deepest thanks goes to
all those from the field who took the time to speak with me.
Autism Spectrum Disorders:
Ideologies and Families in
St. Louis Support Groups
Authors:
M. Ariel Cascio
Ariel graduates from Washington
University in May, 2009 with a
major in anthropology and a
minor in history. The introduc-
tory anthropology course she
took in high school has inspired
a lifelong passion for the field
and for “making the familiar
strange,” and her work on autism
spectrum disorders formed a
senior honors thesis. Ariel will
pursue a Ph.D. in anthropology
from Case Western Reserve
University.
KEY TERMS
• Autism Spectrum
Disorders (ASD)
• Family
• Support Groups
• Social Movements
• Advocacy
• St. Louis
Peer Editor:
Danille Wallis, a sophomore
majoring in Educational and
American Cultural Studies

6
INTRODUCTION
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have become a growing public health concern
in recent years. The media relates an “epidemic” of autism, with prevalence rates
as high as 1 in 166, as reported by a Public Service Announcement campaign sponsored
by Autism Speaks.1
Anthropologists are interested in ASD not to find its biomarkers or
evaluate the clinical efficacy of treatments, but to analyze its sociocultural context,
particularly in this time of intense public awareness and fascination. Disease of any
sort, although biological, operates in profoundly social ways around individuals,
families, communities, and public popular culture. ASD is particularly intriguing
from a sociocultural perspective because it is diagnosed entirely through behavioral
characteristics; there is no blood test for autism. A variety of forces interact to construct
ASD. Medicinal researchers study it and debate vigorously over causes and courses of
action. Psychiatrists and neurologists diagnose it and choose the label that best gets a
patient treated. Educational systems place children in different settings and enact
Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Advocacy organizations raise awareness and
funds for research and services. Ultimately, families facilitate all of these interactions,
and family roles are challenged or emphasized daily.
This study looks at the interaction between three philosophical approaches to
ASD: the treatment-based approach advocated most prominently within hospitals and
research universities, the cure-based approach represented by the Defeat Autism Now!
(DAN!) movement, and the assistive approach advocated by the autism pride
movement, neurodiversity. Each approach is present in St. Louis, as mediated through
parents attending support groups. Because many cases of ASD are diagnosed in
children ages two to four2
, parents of children with this diagnosis have responsibility
for making decisions regarding care. This research analyzes the way in which ASD and
the contested messages around it challenges and/or emphasizes the roles of childhood,
motherhood, and fatherhood within a family.
BACKGROUND
Autism first emerged as a distinct disorder in 1943, when Leo Kanner at Johns
Hopkins University described the “autistic disturbances of affective contact” apparent
in eleven children. Around the same time in Germany, Hans Asperger described the
similar condition that now bears his name.3
Kanner and Asperger operated completely
independently of each other, and Asperger’s work was not well known to the English-
speaking medical community until translated by Lorna Wing in 1981. Wing’s work
introduced the concept of autism as a spectrum, although today classical (Kanner’s)
autism and Asperger’s Syndrome generally describe different kinds of autism.4
The DSM-IV-TR identifies five pervasive developmental disorders, three of which
are referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): autistic disorder, Asperger’s
Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-
NOS). ASD are characterized by behavioral markers, specifically deficits in three areas:
social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted repetitive
behaviors or interests.3
ASD is also associated with several other symptoms, such as

7
digestive problems, sensory integration problems, and self-stimulating behavior (a
type of repetitive behavior).
This research investigates a very few of the highly contested aspects of ASD. It
focuses on three philosophies constructing ASD as a disability to be treated, a disease
to be cured, or a form of diversity to be embraced. First, treatment-based approaches
define ASD as a genetically based neurological disorder to be treated with behavioral
therapy and sometimes medications. This approach pervades the dominant medical
systems of the United States including hospitals, research universities, insurance
policies, and educational systems. It often seems, at least to parents, to consider autism
incurable. This perception plays prominently in a second, cure-oriented approach,
embodied by the organization Defeat Autism Now!
The Defeat Autism Now (DAN!) approach rejects the notion of incurability and
asserts that ASD can be effectively dispelled to reveal a happy, functioning child. In the
field, this approach focused on nutritional therapy, particularly a casein-free and
gluten-free (CFGF) diet to treat an opioid effect, which interferes with transmitter
systems and may be linked to autistic behavioral characteristics.5
DAN!, as a nationwide
organization, also includes biomedical interventions such as chelation, the removal of
toxic chemicals from the body.6
The neurodiversity movement, a third, “assistive” perspective, argues that ASD is
not a disease to be treated or cured but a variation of human existence to be embraced.
This movement is composed of autistic self-advocates who feel rejected by parents
who tried to fix what was not broken, and the institutions that perpetuate those ideas.7
It operates largely online.8
Although the neurodiversity movement celebrates ASD as a
valid perspective on and experience of the world, different advocates within it support
some therapies if those therapies help autistic individuals cope with challenges, rather
than trying to change them into non-autistic individuals.
METHODS
This research tackles a delocalized field, a field without an isolated physical setting,
one that is difficult to track down and is ever-expanding. Participant observation
within parent support groups in St. Louis provides the primary site for field research,
supplemented by semi-structured interviews with parents who attend support groups,
as well as professionals dealing with support for parents of children with autism. This
research also draws from document analysis of works from the Internet. Research
organizations such as Autism Speaks and the Simons Foundation maintain informative
websites, which make available their goals and the news in the field. Organizations
such as DAN! and many neurodiversity groups use the internet as mobilization tools.
Online sources related to the organizations and philosophies discussed in this study
provide a valuable framework for understanding and interpreting informant comments.
SOURCES
This research observed three support groups – one cure-oriented group and two
treatment-oriented groups. I attended the cure-oriented group for two consecutive
sessions, meeting one mother the first meeting, and three other mothers the second.

8
The first group involved a mother with two teenaged children on the spectrum, one
boy and one girl. The second group involved a parent of two younger (pre-teen)
adopted girls, the elder of whom is on the spectrum, a mother of two teenage children,
a girl and a boy, whose son has Asperger’s, and a brand new member with a recently
diagnosed young son. The two treatment-oriented groups were both run by the
Autism Center. After several positive responses from attendees, one mother declined
to allow a researcher to observe the group. However, three parents volunteered for
personal interviews. A second treatment-oriented group, similarly more private than
public, included four family groups: one mother, one step-mother, one mother-
grandmother pair, and one mother-father pair, a total of six informants plus one
coordinator.
A few groups available to parents in the St. Louis area could not be included as part
of this fieldwork. As mentioned above, one parent did not consent to observation at
one of the treatment-based groups and therefore information was only obtained
through interviews with individual attendees. The coordinator of the nutritional
group also runs a group focused on a biomedical approach called the Amy Yasko protocol,
and described it as a much more emotional type of meeting where a researcher might
interrupt the atmosphere of the group and make participants less comfortable.
Additionally, a group that responded favorably to the idea of participating was composed
mostly of adults with ASD, but research with this population would have violated the
IRB Human Studies Approval for this project. Finally, an Asperger’s support group
for parents that previously met at the Autism Center resides slightly outside the
geographically accessible area.The coordinator for this group provided useful information
through informal conversation, particularly about the fathers-only support group
they used to host, but no meetings could be observed.
This work also includes interviews with five individuals. Three of these informants
all attended the first treatment-oriented group. One of these three informants is both
a mother and a professional. The other two interviews were sought specifically to
address unique organizations and their approaches to addressing parents of children
with ASD, but turned out to both also be mothers of children with ASD who
approached the subject from two perspectives. This research also draws from several
informal interviews with professionals in the ASD community and coordinators for
groups that could not be observed.
In addition to fieldwork, several published sources have informed this project.
Support groups have provided several handouts, some cited here, including a
parenting magazine, scholarly articles on nutritional intervention, and a St. Louis
resource list. Autism Speaks’ website (autismspeaks.org) hosts articles from a respectful
debate between themselves and the organization GRASP (grasp.org), the Global and
Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership, arguing for or against the word “cure” with
reference to ASD.9, 10, 11
GRASP’s anti-cure perspective articulates a major part of the
neurodiversity movement. Several other sources introduce this radical movement
as well, most famously Jim Sinclair’s essay “Don’t Mourn For Us.” The website
neurodiversity.com acts primarily as a library for neurodiversity sources, including
Sinclair’s essay, and also hosts an opinions blog. These sources complement participant
observation and interviews, and provide a framework for interpreting parents’
comments.

9
RESULTS
This study yields a complex picture of the contested meaning of ASD in St. Louis and
the way parents mediate these messages. It investigates three main ideologies regarding
the cause and management of ASD: the treatment-based model that operates within
mainstream medical institutions, the cure-based model that challenges these
approaches, and the assistive-based model that operates both as an identity politics
movement around an autistic presence and as a self-advocacy philosophy endorsing
certain treatment approaches while rejecting many others. This study then considers
the way ASD affects family roles with respect to childhood, motherhood, and
fatherhood, finding that the necessity of advocacy as a part of childrearing brings
mothers into the public sphere while obscuring the important work fathers do.
Within support groups, two approaches operate in St. Louis: the treatment-based
and the cure-based. These approaches are evident because they involve material
actions in terms of seeking treatment. Both involve specialty physicians for an official
diagnosis, and publicly provided special education and educational administrators for
the provision of intervention for individuals under twenty-one. Followers of either
approach may employ physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, and
sensory integration specialists in hopes of treating or curing. The treatment approach
specifically includes behavioral therapies such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) or
Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), as well as emotional management
techniques such as Groden Relaxation. All of these techniques are present in the field
within support group meetings or individual interviews. The cure approach specifically
uses allergists, nutritionists, specialty pharmacies for supplements, and specialty
grocery stores for casein-free and gluten-free food, as well as their own network of
DAN! doctors. St. Louis has support groups built around each of these two approaches.
However, as will be described below, the third, assistive, model is also present even
within these groups, although no group exists strictly for this philosophy.
At first, spokespersons from treatment-based and the cure-based models expressed
directly oppositional sentiments. In an informal interview, one academic scoffed at the
idea of attending a nutritional support group and explained that a CFGF diet is great
for general health, but it has nothing to do with autism. At the nutrition-based support
group, the coordinator, an occupational therapist, made similar disparaging remarks
about the use of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a very popular mainstream
therapy. The coordinator complained that the National Institutes of Health was giving
all of its grant money to ABA therapy, which she did not consider to be addressing the
problem.
Advocates of the DAN! protocol react to the treatment-based approach, objecting
on four levels. First, they perceive many physicians to be uncaring and unsupportive.
Second, they perceive the treatment approach described above to have a negative
attitude towards ASD as incurable. Third, many feel that the vaccines pushed by pediatrics
have harmed their children. Finally, they object to the use of pharmaceuticals.
Although these initial encounters painted a picture of conflict, parents’ personal
accounts begin to blur the line between these two philosophies. The Autism Center,
although it operates on the principles of ABA, includes “DAN! Doctors,” practitioners
who use the DAN! protocol, on its resource list. Their support group did not discuss
the DAN! protocol, but two of the mothers attending had a brief conversation about

10
dietary change possibly triggering tantrums in their children, thus linking nutrition to
autistic traits. One mother mentioned unprocessed starches could set off her son. The
other mother responded that she had seen a similar reaction, but it was so hard to find
gluten-free foods. Other parents in the room started listing health food stores in the
area, evidence that they were at least aware of the treatment, whether or not they were
using it.
One mother/professional spoke the praises of the Autism Center, but also mentioned
using nutritional approaches with her own sons, two boys with ASD. When asked if,
in her work, she had found a lot of tension between the two approaches, or if most
parents used both, she immediately replied, “smart parents use both,” then added that
both approaches require a lot of money, and parents are often forced to focus on only
one area of improvement at a time. The Autism Center’s support group backs this
assertion, as the parents acknowledged a connection between diet and behavior, even
though they did not focus on it.
The second visit with the nutritional group also illustrated this merging of
approaches. A new parent whose three year-old son had just been diagnosed attended
this group. She announced that she was seeking ABA certification so she could be in
direct control of her son’s treatment, but she asked the group which philosophy she
should follow. She explicitly recognized the potential for conflict. Despite the negative
comments that had been directed at ABA at the prior meeting, in the presence of a
mother who was using it, they fully supported her use of ABA therapy, although they
did advocate putting biomedical treatments first. The mother then asked directly, is
just dieting and supplements enough? No one was willing to say yes explicitly, but
the coordinator did respond by describing the success of her two sons in college and
managing their own diets. Diet, she stressed, not drugs.
Although the two have definite points of disagreement, cure and treatment
techniques are used simultaneously by many parents in this sample group. The director
of the peer-to-peer mentor group, privately excited by the research being done on
vaccines and nutritional and biochemical treatments in autism, stated it best: “It’s
about recognizing parents have a right to their opinion and to be heard. They can do
something different. Parents need to be validated in anything they choose.” Because
these choices often draw from both approaches, despite the conflicts described above,
DAN! seems to have successfully integrated itself into the public understanding of
ASD and the institution of medicine generally. The DAN! protocol stands side by side
with behavioral therapies in the list of specific approaches that make up the cocktail
of treatments that may benefit a particular individual. Every person with ASD is
different and responds to different treatments. The neurodiversity movement, however,
objects to the entire philosophy behind both behavioral and nutritional approaches,
which seek to treat or cure.
“Don’t Mourn for Us,” an essay written by autistic self-advocate Jim Sinclair, offers
the paramount expression of the autistic neurodiversity movement (which advocates
use of the adjective “autistic” over the appendage implied by “with autism”), and
expresses indirect objections to both the behavioral therapy approach of the
mainstream model and the curative approach of the DAN! model. Sinclair discusses
the communication “deficits” of autistic individuals, which form the basis for the
behavioral treatment approach, as the consequence of operating in a different system,

11
not a lack of a system that prevents them from relating at all.7
He also discusses the
curative approach of the DAN! model, and even the therapeutic approach of
mainstream, by contending that “it is not possible to separate the person from the
autism.” He reads the search for a cure as “that your greatest wish is that one day we
will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.” The Autism
Network International, also run by Jim Sinclair, explains, “Supports for autistic
people should be aimed at helping them to compensate, navigate, and function in the
world, not at changing them into non-autistic people or isolating them from the
world.”12
Moreover, “Autistic people have characteristically autistic styles of relating to
others, which should be respected and appreciated rather than modified to make them
‘fit in’”.10
These goals exclude not only cures but treatments that modify autistic
behaviors and therefore reject their validity.
Although all of the parents represented in this study were taking active steps to
respond to (treat or cure) their children’s ASD in some way, they were not unaffected
by the neurodiversity movement. One salient indicator of this was linguistic. The
neurodiversity movement coined the term “neurotypical” to refer to non-autistic
individuals (as opposed to the previously accepted term, “normal”). Several parents
used this term, and in every support group the term came up and no one asked that it
be defined. Beyond this small but pervasive linguistic indicator, some mothers
expressed neurodiverse approaches to their child’s treatment. The state professional
expressed this neurodiversity most clearly in her repeated insistence that parenting an
autistic child followed the same philosophy as parenting a neurotypical child, and that
you tried until you found something that worked. She objected to “accommodating”
parents who weren’t teaching their children anything, but she did stress the “teaching”
aspect of parenting any child, especially an autistic child. “Autism,” she explained, “is
normal behavior to an extreme that precludes other normal behavior.” This concept of
autism-as-an-extreme seems to coincide with a neurodiverse approach to treatment
because it recognizes that autistic behaviors are intelligible and communicative, and
seeks to eliminate them by teaching coping mechanisms for the feelings that generate
them, rather than forcing them away for the sake of normalizing the child.
Several other parental attitudes reflect a neurodiverse sentiment as well. The
neurodiversity philosophy is articulated every time a mother acknowledges that
autism is part of her child’s character, and that she would never want to change her
child’s character, she just wants him to be able to do what he wants. It manifests every
time a mother compares her child’s behavior to a neurotypical behavior, which
humanizes the behavior and accepts the feeling behind it, while trying to help her
child experience and express that feeling. This model was even raised in official
discourse at the Autism Center’s meeting, when the coordinator discussed teaching
children to recognize their negative feelings and decide what would make them feel
better. In discussing negative behaviors, she commented, “we all do that, he just takes
it to the extreme.” Narratives of resistance also express neurodiversity. One mother
objected to an advocacy group’s activities, which focused on the negative. She
acknowledged that this may help raise funds, but she found it offensive because these
are “great kids” who “have a lot to offer.”
Throughout meetings and mediations of messages, many themes regarding family
structure appear. Although the term parent is used above, only one father appeared in

12
any of the groups represented. The treatment-oriented group mentioned the dad’s
group discussed in the “Sources” section, and the coordinator explained it was started
by a stay-at-home-dad who “wanted to talk to some dudes.” The entire experience of
having a child with autism challenges the expectations parents have of “having a
child,” while the process of raising a child emphasizes the role of motherhood through
the gendered expectations society holds for parents.
One informant compared receiving a diagnosis of autism for your child to
receiving a death sentence;“the death of the child you thought you had,” a sense of loss
that echoes that in literature on ASD13, 14, 15
and prompts the writing of essays like
“Don’t Mourn for Us.” This death analogy holds merit because the parental
expectations of the role of childhood within the family are crushed. Firstly, American
children are expected to be actively affectionate in readily identifiable ways. A mother
complained she could no longer get her child to laugh. Some children with autism do
not display stereotypical behaviors of affection such as eye contact or cuddling. One
mother/professional described hearing “I love you” from one’s child as one of “those
types of things that parents deserve.” Secondly, children are expected to reach certain
milestones, such as moving out or “launching” and getting married.16
Many parents do
not expect their children to do this, and grieve at their missed opportunities. A couple
at the treatment-oriented group discussed looking for a group home for their soon-
to-be adult son. The coordinator of the cure-oriented group, apologizing for her
bluntness, explained, “you get your kid well, you get your life back too.”
Given the challenges ASD presents to dominant American expectations for
childhood, some authors have suggested an increased responsibility for siblings without
ASD, who must grow up fast and care for their sibling.17
However, I found that parents
valued siblings’ help specifically as children. One mother described her daughter as
“the best therapy we couldn’t afford,” because of the valuable social skills training she
provided for her brother with ASD. As a sister, she fulfilled the social role of someone
he simply could not ignore. Another mother described the same role for her daughters
who are always “in his face,” unavoidable. Moreover, she explained that her daughters
understand her son with ASD very well, and that he is able to fulfill the big brother
role by teaching his younger siblings childhood skills.
Seeking care for a child with ASD often emphasizes the role of motherhood. The
coordinator of the nutritional group several times referred to parenting, particularly
mothering, as “a full-time job” that “takes nothing less than all you’ve got.” Mothers
are expected to be constant advocates for their children, and are often responsible for
doctor visits, fights with school administrators, planning diets, or any number of other
approaches. These responsibilities contrast directly with discussions of fathering. One
mother referred to her husband solely in terms of his“let[ting] go of the purse-strings.”
Another referenced her husband sending an email regarding their child simply
because she was not as capable using computers. At the treatment-oriented group, two
wives commented that the emotional management techniques they were learning for
their children could be useful for their husbands, treating them as frustrated adults
rather than nurturers. A mother/professional identified this paternal frustration in
part as loss of “your kid you’re supposed to play ball with,” complicated by what she
describes as mothers’ instincts to take over, which frustrates fathers by pushing them
out of the process. Only one mother addressed her husband with explicit links to

13
parenting, commenting at the nutritional support group that he baked all of their
gluten-free bread, and that she couldn’t raise her children without him. Conversation
in support groups, attended almost exclusively by mothers, discursively distanced
fathers from the childrearing role.
In the literature, fathers appear prominently in several places. The Autism Research
Institution, from which DAN! originates, was started by father and advocate Bernard
Rimland. Roy Richard Grinker and Stuart Murray, fathers of children with ASD,
penned social science books on the topic. Travis Thompson, grandfather of a child
with ASD, authored the “authoritative guide for non-experts,” Making Sense of Autism.
The role of fatherhood is much more ambiguous than motherhood. While in the field
fathers may have been overlooked and excluded in conversation, in the literature they
appear very prominently as advocates. This paternal presence further supports the
theory that the elimination of fathers’ work from the discourse does not accurately
reflect a lack of care-taking by fathers. It does, however, seem to de-value their work
in favor of emphasizing the role of motherhood.
AVENUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
This study has elucidated some philosophical themes in the management of ASD
within the United States, and the affect it has on family expectations. This research can
serve to put these philosophies into conversation with each other, particularly in
arguing for the contributions that movements such as neurodiversity can have within
the medical community. Furthermore, it helps to unpack assumptions regarding
neurotypical family structure, and analyze the way that structure is impacted by and
impacts ASD. Finally, this project can serve as a pilot study for further research. It
illuminates the absences of the voices of those with ASD and their fathers in discourses
around autism. It also suggests more comprehensive studies on approaches to ASD
and the interaction, as well as mediation, between competing philosophies and of
gendered parenting and the role of paternal exclusion.
Notes
1 Ad Council. 2006. The Ad Council and Autism Speaks Unveil National PSA Campaign to Raise
Awareness of Autism. The Ad Council, April 6. Electronic document,
http://www.adcouncil.org/newsDetail.aspx?id=83, accessed August 24, 2008.
2 Thompson, Travis. 2007 Making Sense of Autism. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
p. 61.
3 NIMH. 2007. Autism Spectrum Disorders (Pervasive Developmental Disorders).
With Addendum January 2007 (NIH 5511). Bethesda: Department of Health and Human
Services, National Institutes of Health.
4 Grinker, Roy Richard. 2007. Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism.
New York: Basic Books. p. 58.
5 Knivsberg, A.M., K. L. Reichelt, T. Høien, and M. Nødland. 2002. A Randomized, Controlled
Study of Dietary Intervention in Autistic Syndromes. Nutritional Neuroscience, 5(4):251-261.

14
6 Autism Research Institute. 2007. Chelation. Defeat Autism Now! Webcasts. Electronic
document, http://www.autism.com/danwebcast/chelation.htm, accessed August 24, 2008.
7 Sinclair, Jim. 1993. Don’t Mourn for Us. Electronic document,
http://web.syr.edu/~jisincla/dontmourn.htm, accessed August 24, 2008.
8 Nadesan, Majia Holmer. 2005. Constructing Autism: Unravelling the “truth” and
Understanding the Social. New York: Routledge.
9 Carly, Michael J. N.d. GRASP and the Word “Cure”. Autism Speaks. Electronic document,
http://www.autismspeaks.org/whatisit/carley_commentary.php, accessed August 24, 2008.
10 Klin, Ami. N.d. Autism Characterized by Extreme Variability. Autism Speaks.
Electronic document, http://www.autismspeaks.org/whatisit/klin_commentary.php, accessed
August 24, 2008.
11 Singer, Alison. N.d. “Cure” is not a four-letter word. Autism Speaks. Electronic document,
http://www.autismspeaks.org/whatisit/singer_commentary.php, accessed August 24, 2008.
12 Sinclair, Jim. 2002. Philosophy and Goals. June 26: Electronic document,
http://www.autreat.com/intro.html, accessed March 11, 2009.
13 Schreibman, Laura. 2005 The Science and Fiction of Autism. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press. p. 29.
14 Nadesan, p.1
15 Thompson. p.60.
16 Magaña, Sandra, and Matthew J. Smith. 2006. Psychological Distress and Well-Being of Latina
and Non-Latina White Mothers of Youth and Adults with an Autism Spectrum Disorder:
Cultural Attitudes Towards Coresidence Status. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,
76(3):346-357.
17 Grinker. p. 296

15
ABSTRACT
Individuals discount the value of delayed and probabilistic rewards
according to the same hyperboloid function: V=A/(1+bX)s
, where V is
the present, subjective value of a reward of amount A, X is the time
until it is received (delay) or the odds against it being received
(probability), b is a parameter that determines the rate at which the
subjective value decreases, and s represents the non-linear scaling of
amount and/or time or probability. With delayed rewards, as amount
increases, the value of the rate parameter (b) decreases but the
exponent (s) remains constant. The goal of the current study was
to determine how increases in amount of the probabilistic reward
influence these parameters. Subjects discounted nine probabilistic
amounts ranging from $20 to $10 million. In contrast to the
discounting of delayed rewards, as amount of probabilistic reward
increased, s increased but amount had little systematic effect on the
value of b. Thus, although the same mathematical function describes
both delay and probability discounting, the differential effects of
amount argue that the processes underlying probability and delay
discounting are different.
FACULT Y MENTOR: LEONARD GREEN, P.H D.,
PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLO GY
Professor Green studies choice and decision making in rats, pigeons,
and people. His research on choice extends to the areas of self control
(choice between smaller/sooner rewards and larger/later rewards),
behavioral economics (the conjoining of experimental psychology and
economic theories), and the discounting of delayed and probabilistic
outcomes. The latter research evaluates the mathematical form of
the discount function and whether fundamentally similar processes
underlie choice behavior involving delayed and probabilistic rewards.
ACKNOWLED GEMENTS
I would like to thank everyone who has helped make this research
possible: Dr. Leonard Green and Dr. Joel Myerson for all their help,
guidance, insight, and entertainment, Amanda Calvert, Sara Estle, and
the Washington University Psychology Department, Kristin Sobotka
and everyone at the Washington University Undergraduate Research
Office, and finally, all the students of Washington University who
participated in this study.
Probability Discounting Along
a Wide Range of Amounts
Author:
Josh Morris
Josh is a junior at Washington
University, majoring in econom-
ics and psychology. He is very
interested in the subject of
behavioral economics, and he
hopes to continue to study it at
the graduate level after his May
2010 graduation. Since early in
his sophomore year, Josh has
worked in the lab of Dr. Leonard
Green and Dr. Joel Myerson on
the study of discounting in
animals and humans. He plans
to follow up the results reported
in this article on a new study for
his senior honors thesis.
KEY TERMS
• Discounting
• Subjective Value
• Hyperboloid
Function
• Underlying
Processes
Peer Editor:
Sarah Frazier, a senior
graduating with a degree in
Chemistry with a concentration
in Biochemistry

16
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Individuals will generally prefer a certain reward to an uncertain reward of the same
nominal amount. So, too, an individual will generally favor an immediate reward
over a delayed reward of the same nominal amount. In fact, individuals will often
choose a smaller certain/immediate reward over a larger uncertain/delayed reward.
These preferences can be understood in terms of probability and temporal discounting:
when individuals subjectively lower their valuation of something due to a given constraint.
In this case, the relatively greater subjective value of the certain/immediate reward
reflects the fact that the value of the uncertain/delayed reward is discounted (for a
review, see Green & Myerson1
).
Both probability and temporal discounting are involved in the decision-making
process of many daily situations. For example, probability discounting may explain an
individual’s preference for a riskier investment option with a higher payout versus a
safer investment option with a lower payout. Temporal discounting may explain why
one would rather receive paychecks once a week rather than a lump sum at the end of
the year.
Several mathematical functions have been proposed to describe the decrease in the
subjective value of an uncertain or delayed reward as the odds against or delay to
receiving the reward increases. In standard microeconomic theory, an exponential decay
function has most often been used to describe discounting. Psychologists, however,
have favored a hyperboloid function to describe the relation between the subjective
value of the certain or immediate reward and the value of the uncertain or delayed
reward. Early research found that delay discounting is well described by a hyperboloid
function of the form:
V = A/(1 + kD)s
where V is the present, subjective value of a reward of amount A, D is the time until it
is received, and k is a parameter that determines the rate at which the subjective value
decreases: the larger the k parameter, the greater the degree of discounting. The
parameter s represents the non-linear scaling of amount and/or time. When s = 1.0,
the function reduces to a simple hyperbola.
Following the work on temporal discounting, it was found that probability
discounting also could be well described by an analogous hyperboloid function of the
form:
V = A/(1 + hΦ)s
where Φ represents the odds against receiving the uncertain reward (Φ = (1 - p)/p,
where p is the probability of receiving the uncertain reward), and h is a parameter
(similar to k) that represents the rate at which the subjective value decreases.2
Some have proposed that the decision-making process involved in probability
discounting underlies the decision-making process involved in temporal discounting
whereas others have argued the opposite, namely that that the decision-making
process involved in temporal discounting underlies the decision-making process
involved in probability discounting (e.g., Rachlin, Logue, Gibbon, & Frankel3
). Green
(Equation 1)
(Equation 2)

17
et al.2
, however, found that the amount of a reward had opposite effects on the rate at
which probabilistic and delayed rewards were discounted, thus arguing that the two
types of discounting have different underlying processes. Specifically, with delayed
rewards, larger amounts are discounted less steeply than smaller amounts, whereas
with probabilistic rewards, a reverse amount effect was found: larger amounts are
discounted more steeply than smaller amounts.
Several questions regarding similarities and differences between temporal and
probability discounting remain. In temporal discounting, although rate of discounting
decreases with amount, the rate appears to level off at high amounts; further increases
in amount do not produce further decreases in rate of discounting.4
It is unclear
whether the reverse amount effect with probabilistic rewards also shows a leveling off
as amount continues to increase. In addition, the parameter s in the temporal
discounting function has been shown to remain relatively constant as amount varies.5
It is unknown whether the scaling parameter, s, in the probability discounting function
also remains constant as amount varies. The purpose of the present experiment is to
explore the effect of amount of a probabilistic reward on both rate of discounting and
the scaling parameter. We are interested in knowing whether and how s and h vary as
the probabilistic reward was varied over a very large range of amounts.
METHODS
Participants
Forty undergraduate students (16 males and 24 females, mean = 20.6 years) at
Washington University in St. Louis were recruited through the Department of
Psychology’s participant pool, and were paid ten (actual) dollars for their participation.
Procedure
Participants were tested individually in a quiet room with the door open. They were
seated at a desk with a desktop computer, monitor, and keyboard. The experimenter
was seated in a room directly across from that of the participants with a clear view of
the participant throughout the experiment.
The computer-administered discounting procedure involved choosing between
receiving two different hypothetical amounts of money: a smaller amount that could
be received for certain and a larger amount that could be received with some level of
probability. Prior to performing the task, participants read the following instructions
on the monitor:
This experiment will measure your preferences for different
hypothetical amounts of money. We are interested in which
reward you would choose between two monetary choices. Please
make your decisions as if all choices involved were for real money.
There are no correct or incorrect choices.
Two amounts of money will appear on the screen. One amount
can be received for sure. The other amount can be received with a

18
certain probability. The screen will show you the probability of
receiving the reward. The amount of the “for sure” reward will
change after each of your decisions. The probabilistic reward will
stay the same for a group of choices. Indicate the option you
would prefer by clicking the appropriate button. Again, there are
no correct or incorrect choices.
If you change your mind about a choice, you can return to the
start of that group by touching the “Reset” button on the screen.
You will get to practice before you begin, so don’t worry if you
might not understand everything yet.
Participants chose between two hypothetical amounts of money, one that could be
received “for sure,” and the other that could be received with some probability. The
amount of the probabilistic reward was randomly selected from nine different values
($20, $250, $3000, $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, $500,000, $2,000,000, and
$10,000,000). n different conditions, the degree of uncertainty for the probabilistic
reward was randomly varied across five probabilities (80%, 50%, 25%, 10%, and 5%).
The side of the screen on which each reward was presented also was randomly varied
within each condition.
The experiment consisted of 45 conditions: the nine amounts of the probabilistic
reward crossed with the five probabilities. Within each condition, participants were
asked to make a series of six choices. These choices were used to obtain an estimate of
the amount of the smaller, certain reward they judged to be equivalent in value to the
larger, probabilistic amount. An adjusting-amount procedure was used to estimate the
subjective value of the probabilistic reward in which the amount of the certain reward
changed systematically from trial to trial. On the first trial, the participant was
presented a choice between the probabilistic amount and half that amount “for sure.”
For example, in the $250/25% condition, the first choice was between “$250 with a
25% chance” and “$125 for sure.”
If the probabilistic reward was chosen, then the amount of the “for sure” reward
was increased for the next trial, whereas if the “for sure” reward was chosen, then its
amount was decreased for the next trial. The amount of the increase or decrease was
always half of the amount remaining between the two known boundaries of the
subjective value. Continuing with the previous example, if on the first trial the
participant chose the “$250 with a 25% chance,” then the next choice would be
between “$250 with a 25% chance” and “$188 for sure.” If the participant chose the
“$125 for sure” on the first trial, then his or her next choice would be between “$250
with a 25% chance” and “$63 for sure.” (Amounts of the “for sure” reward were
rounded up.)
This staircase procedure continued for six trials per condition, and the participant’s
subjective value of each probabilistic reward was estimated after the sixth choice to be
the amount of the “for sure” reward that would have been presented on a seventh
choice.

19
RESULTS
Figure 1 presents the group median subjective values plotted as a function of the
odds against receiving the uncertain reward. In order to make direct comparisons
between the discounting of the different amounts of reward, subjective value was
calculated as a proportion of the nominal probabilistic amount. The curves represent
the best-fitting hyperboloid function (Equation 2) fit to the group data using a nonlinear
least squares algorithm. Also shown are the amounts of variance accounted for by the
best-fitting functions (R2
). The R2
values were excellent, all greater than .96.
Table 1 shows the group median data for the area-under-the-curve measure at each
amount. The area-under-the-curve measure was first proposed by Myerson, Green,
and Warusawitharana6
as a method to display a single, theoretically neutral measure
of degree of discounting. The area under the curves can range from 0.0 to 19.0, where
larger areas equate to less discounting. Consistent with the reverse amount effect, the
rate of discounting increased as the amount of the probabilistic reward increased, as
represented by smaller values of the area under the curve.
Figure 2 shows the values of the h parameter of Equation 2 for the fits to the group
median as a function of amount. The h values and the amounts were logarithmically
scaled, and best-fit lines were calculated. The slope of the line for the group median
data was -.014 with an r2
of .014. Figure 3 presents the values of the s parameter of
Equation 2. The slope of the line to the group median data was .090 with an r2
of .898.
Similar trends were found for both parameters by analyzing the data of individual
participants. As is evident, there was little systematic change in the h parameter as the
amount of the probabilistic reward increased, whereas there is a clear increase in the s
parameter as a function of amount.
DISCUSSION
The discounting of probabilistic rewards was well described by the hyperboloid
function (Equation 2). Additionally, as the amount of the probabilistic reward
increased, rate of discounting increased, replicating prior results of this reverse
amount effect but over a much greater range of amounts. Of note, as amount
increased, the s parameter changed systematically whereas the h parameter remained
relatively constant. This pattern of results is different from that obtained with delayed
rewards in which there is little change in the s parameter but decreases in the k
parameter as the amount of reward increases.5
It is to be pointed out that the subjective value of a probabilistic amount was
calculated based on a series of six choices made by each participant. The use of only
six choices may have provided an artificially higher subjective value of the larger
amounts than would have been obtained had the participant been allowed additional
choices. The group median subjective values of the $500,000, $2,000,000, and
$10,000,000 probabilistic amounts at the two lowest probabilities appear to be floor
effects since the lowest possible amounts given six choices were obtained as the median
values. More than half the participants chose the “for sure” option on all six choices at
these probabilities and amounts, producing identical subjective values. Fortunately,
this problem has little effect on the overall conclusion of the study since the subjective
value after the six choices is less than 1% of the probabilistic amount and values any

20
smaller would have a negligible effect on the parameters or fits.
In spite of the finding that the same form of mathematical function that describes
temporal discounting (Equation 1) also describes probability discounting (Equation
2), the results of the present study uncovered important differences between the two
types of discounting. That is, the s parameter changed systematically with the amount
of the probabilistic reward whereas it remained relatively constant with the amount
of the delayed reward. A second experiment is currently underway to characterize
this finding more intensively. Green, Myerson, and Macaux7
found that temporal
discounting became less steep when a common period of delay was added prior to the
delivery of both a sooner, but smaller reward and a larger, but more delayed reward.
This second study incorporates a very similar design that is adapted for probability
discounting. Although a common probability cannot simply be added to both the
certain and the probabilistic amounts, the likelihood of each outcome can be
multiplied by a constant to maintain relative probability while transforming both
alternatives to uncertain rewards. Of interest is whether multiplying all outcomes by a
constant probability leads to reliably lower rates of discounting, similar to the decrease
in discounting rate found when a constant delay was added to both outcomes in the
Green et al. study. That is, will individuals be more likely to accept a larger gamble for
more money when both outcomes become uncertain?
Figure 1. Group median subjective values plotted as a function of the odds
against receiving the uncertain reward.
Odds Against Receiving the Probabilistic Reward

21
Figure 2. Group median h values plotted as a function of log amount.
Figure 3. Group median s values plotted as a function of log amount.
Log Amount ($)
Log Amount ($)

22
Table 1. Area-Under-the-Curve decreases with amount
Notes
1 Green, L., & Myerson, J. (2004). A Discounting Framework for Choice With Delayed and
Probabilistic Rewards. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 769-792.
2 Green, L., Myerson, J., & Ostaszewski, P. (1999a). Amount of reward has opposite effects on
the discounting of delayed and probabilistic outcomes. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 25, 418-427.
3 Rachlin, H., Logue, A. W., Gibbon, J., & Frankel, M. (1986). Cognition and behavior in studies
of choice. Psychological Review, 93, 33-55.
4 Green, L., Myerson, J., & McFadden, E. (1997). Rate of temporal discounting decreases with
amount of reward. Memory & Cognition, 25, 715-723.
5 Estle, S. J., Green, L., Myerson, J., & Holt, D. D. (2006). Differential effects of amount on
temporal and probability discounting of gains and losses. Memory & Cognition, 34, 914-928.
6 Myerson, J., Green, L., & Warusawitharana, M. (2001). Area under the curve as a measure of
discounting. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 76, 235-243.
7 Green, L., Myerson, J., and Macaux, E. W. (2005). Temporal Discounting When the Choice is
Between Two Delayed Rewards. Journal of the Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, 31, 1121-1133.
Amount ($) Area-Under-the-Curve
20 4.76
250 2.80
3,000 2.24
20,000 1.49
50,000 1.35
100,000 1.20
500,000 0.99
2,000,000 0.51
10,000,000 0.40

ABSTRACT
El Salvador passed the Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism in
August, 2006, and the legislation was subsequently used on several
occasions in the following year to charge individuals, ranging from
street vendors to municipal employees to activists, with terrorism.
This research examines the specific conditions that contributed to the
writing and passage of the law in El Salvador and the effects that its
application has had on due process and human rights. This research
reveals that (1) the discourse of terrorism was well-established in
El Salvador prior to the passage of the law, and that this discourse in
reality enabled the passage of the law in El Salvador; (2) that the law
was a means of acquiring the tacit support of the U.S. by joining the
Global War on Terrorism; (3) that the law was politically useful to
certain sectors of El Salvador’s political elite, however paradoxically, in
the context of democratically contested politics and intensifying social
protest. This study builds on a series of interviews that were
conducted in El Salvador during the summer of 2008 with individuals
who had some sort of connection with this legislation or the events
leading to its passage.
FACULTY MENTOR: BRET GUSTAFSON, PH.D.,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, OF SOCIOCULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY.
Professor Gustafson’s research focuses on the ethnography of the
state, the politics of knowledge, and the production of sovereignty and
territoriality. His current project examines how territorial(izing)
violences and de facto sovereignties emerge through legal and extra-
legal political practice in the context of Bolivia’s natural gas boom.
ACKNOWLED GEMENTS
I extend my gratitude to the following individuals and organizations for
providing the financial, material, institutional and moral support that
made the successful completion of my research possible: Tania L. and
the Cruz family, Professor Bret Gustafson, the Office of Undergraduate
Research and the Department of International and Area Studies of
Washington University in St. Louis.
23
The Special Law Against
Acts of Terrorism:
Author:
Michael Raish
Michael graduates Summa Cum
Laude in May 2009 with a double
major in Arabic and International
and Area Studies. His longstand-
ing interest in El Salvador spurred
him to investigate the events
surrounding that country’s
counter-terrorism law, and his
research grew into a senior
honors thesis. He has been was
awarded a Fulbright research
grant to investigate the theme of
conversion within the Muslim
community of El Salvador.
KEY TERMS
• El Salvador
• Global War on
Terrorism
• Political dissent
• Human rights
• Discourse of
terrorism
Peer Editor:
Daniel Woznica, a sophomore
majoring in Women and
Gender Studies and English
The Intersection of Language, Law and the
Global War on Terrorism in El Salvador

24
INTRODUCTION
In the months and years following the events of September 11, 2001, the government
of the United States began to encourage its allies around the world to draft new or
revise existing counter-terrorism legislation. In September 2006, the Salvadoran
legislative assembly passed the Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism, the articles of
which define several acts of terrorism and proscribe stiff penalties for those who
commit them. Most troubling are the legislation’s proscriptions for actions that are
frequently used as methods of protest in Latin America, such as the blockading of
streets or occupation of public buildings, as well as an article that mandates several
years in prison for those who engage in the ambiguous crime of “public justification
of terrorism.”
Like other counter-terrorism legislation enacted around the world in recent years,
El Salvador’s antiterrorism law1
makes little attempt to define “terrorism,” but instead
elaborates a number of specific crimes deemed to constitute it. The February after the
law was passed, several informal street vendors were charged with terrorism after
being captured in connection with a protest outside the capital, and the following June
fourteen individuals were charged with terrorism following a protest against water
privatization in the Salvadoran city of Suchitoto. Over twenty street vendors from the
capital of San Salvador were also accused of terrorism in a separate incident in May.
Some of those charged following the events in Suchitoto faced up to sixty years in
prison. In the end, after several months of confusion and obfuscation on the part of
the government, terrorism charges against all individuals charged were dropped.
Nevertheless, the Salvadoran activist community continues to be highly conscious of
the antiterrorism law’s existence and its potential to radically increase the penalties for
acts of protest and civil disobedience.
METHODS
The research consisted of a series of interviews with individuals who have some relation
to the antiterrorism law’s application or the events leading to its passage. Each of the
interviews was conducted in Spanish, and all transcription and translation of them is
the author’s own work. Approximately fifteen individuals from varying backgrounds
were interviewed. These individuals included a congressman, a municipal mayor, two
individuals who had been captured and charged with terrorism, a member of the legal
defense team for those individuals captured in Suchitoto, a former guerilla combatant
who had served until the end of the Salvadoran Civil War in 1992, and members of a
student organization against whom government agents allegedly perpetrated violence
during a student protest in 2006. The turmoil and disorder that resulted from the
government’s violent suppression of this event, as well as from the deaths of two police
officers killed during it, were crucial elements in the government’s case for the
necessity of an antiterrorism law. It should be noted that the majority of interview
subjects either considered themselves leftist or at least ideologically opposed to
El Salvador’s conservative party, which was in control of the government from before
the end of the civil war until the legislative and presidential elections of 2009.

25
Interviews were augmented with occasional secondary research in the national library
of El Salvador and visits to Salvadoran universities located in the capital in order to
collect literature pertaining to important events leading up to the passage of the law
and the recent political history of El Salvador. Community events in San Salvador and
its municipalities were attended in order to network with possible interview subjects.
References to the antiterrorism law and the UMO [Unidad de Mantenamiento del
Orden – Unit for the Maintenance of Order], a unit of riot police notorious for their
enthusiasm in responding to protest actions were observed in graffiti and political art
during an annual march organized by students of the University of El Salvador to
commemorate a massacre of marching students in 1975 (see photographs).
RESULTS
A main theme explored in interviews was the perception of the law’s authors and the
reasons for the law’s existence among those who might consider themselves possible
future targets of the law. The questions, “Why do you think that the law was passed?”
and “What were the main events or factors that led to the creation of this legislation?”
were posed to interviewees. Although some interview subjects did allow for the fact
that El Salvador had a higher risk of experiencing a terrorist act due to its involvement
in Iraq, nearly every interview subject raised the allegation that the Salvadoran
government had created the law in order to prevent acts of public protest. Salvadoran
society currently faces a number of crippling social problems that prevent a large
percentage of the population from having access to necessities such as clean water,
health care, employment, and affordable food. Most of the individuals interviewed
acknowledged that a populace that does not have access to these necessities is more
likely to take to the streets in protest. According to those interviewed, the government
is aware of this and at least in part created the antiterrorism law with the intention of
preventing acts of protest that would have the potential to destabilize the balance of
power. This is why certain actions considered “normal” acts of protest in the region,
such as the blocking of streets and the occupying of public buildings, are described in
the law as acts of terrorism. Even the public justification of terrorism is punishable
under the law. The majority of the individuals interviewed expressed the belief
that the antiterrorism law represented the desire of the Salvadoran government and
political right to criminalize the expression of political dissent, rather than address the
social inequities that give rise to such expressions.
Most interview subjects also held the view that the antiterrorism law was an
imposition of the United States government, though the evidence for this claim
remains anecdotal. Regardless of whether or not the U.S. embassy ordered the
Salvadoran government to draft the legislation, it publicly praised its creation. As Wes
Enzinna reported in The Nation, several days after the law was passed, “then-US
Ambassador H. Douglas Barclay congratulated the Salvadoran people. ‘The US and El
Salvador are [now] partners in the war on terror,’ he beamed.”2
According to a judge
and member of the Salvadoran Department of Justice, the members of El Salvador’s
judiciary were widely opposed to this legislation, calling it “unconstitutional” for
leading the government to use special tribunals to try terrorism suspects instead of
relying on the system of courts and judges. The fact that nearly every interview

26
subject expressed the view that the United States instructed the Salvadoran
government to draft counter-terrorism legislation establishes the existence of a
pervasive narrative on the Salvadoran left which aims to dismiss and delegitimatize
the actions of the state by portraying it as a servile puppet of the United States, much
as the government and media often attempt to delegitimatize acts of protest and
political dissent by labeling them as “terrorism.”
As mentioned previously, many respondents admitted that El Salvador does face a
certain threat from terrorism that is unique in Latin America, citing the participation
of Salvadoran troops in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. (The last of the Salvadoran
troops have returned from this deployment since August 2008.) Some individuals
interviewed, including members of the FMLN3
, agree that El Salvador does need
special legislation to try perpetrators of terrorist crimes, but that the legislation in its
current form does not represent a serious effort on the part of the government to
combat terrorism. The FMLN has opposed the antiterrorist legislation from the
beginning, and several FMLN members have publicly alleged that the legislation is
intended not to combat terrorism, but to stifle political dissent.
Multiple interview subjects mentioned an event in the community of Apopa, on
the outskirts of San Salvador, which occurred five months after the law was passed.
Apopa is a large municipality just outside the borders of the capital, on the main
highway leaving San Salvador for the north. On February 10, 2007, a group of
informal vendors staged a demonstration in the center of the municipality and in
front of the mayor’s office. At some point the demonstration became violent and the
demonstrators began to throw rocks, break windows, and burn municipal property.
Several interview subjects alleged that the national government leaned on the
municipal government of Apopa to try those captured during the demonstration
under the antiterrorism law. Use of the legislation by an FMLN government would
have helped to legitimize it in the eyes of observers. Miguel Arevola, an official in the
municipal government of the neighboring municipality of Soyapango, recalls that
“those on the right [wanted] for the municipal government of the FMLN to say ‘apply
the antiterrorism law.’” Mayor Roger Blandino Nerio of the neighboring FMLN-
controlled municipality of Mejicanos stated regarding the “aggression” in Apopa that:
The right[-wing] press and the General Prosecutor of the
Republic had an interest [in it]. A level of pressure was created in
order that the mayor’s office would ask that the antiterrorism law
be applied to the captured persons … They needed to create the
event. And [that is] precisely one of the reasons that brought us to
conclusions such as that it was an act deliberately prepared by the
right precisely to create the condition that would obligate a
functionary of the FMLN to ask for the application of the law, and
thus validate the law [and] legitimize it among society … And the
public pressure from the media was maintained for several days so
that el Frente1
would declare itself in favor of the application of the
law against the people who had attempted to commit a crime
against the FMLN or a mayor’s office of the FMLN.

27
Regardless of whether or not elements of the Salvadoran government engineered
the incident, the federal government stepped in to apply the antiterrorism law when
the FMLN-controlled municipal government of Apopa proved unwilling to do so.
Suyapa Martínez and Luis Alonso Cantarero Castro, both of whom were captured
during the February 10th protest in Apopa, thus became the first individuals charged
with terrorism under the new law. Carlos Hernández, the public prosecutor in charge
of the case, stated that the use of a flammable substance to set fire to a municipal
vehicle, which in turn “physically and psychologically assaulted” individuals in the
area, constituted terrorism under the new law. According to Hernández,“based on the
information of Article 15 of the special legislation, the conduct [of Martínez and
Castro] conformed to this crime.”4
Article 15 of the legislation contemplates the use of
a “flammable, asphyxiating, toxic or explosive substance,” as well as the activation of
weapons of mass destruction or the employment of chemical or biological agents, and
states that such acts are to be punished with a prison sentence of forty to sixty years.5
Responding to the question of whether or not the actions of the two accused could
have been contemplated under the standard penal code, the prosecutor stated that “we
did not see that it constituted any other behavior [than terrorism].”4
The charges were
dropped, however, several months later.
When Mayor Blandino was asked if he would consider applying the antiterrorism
law to anyone captured during a similar violent protest in Mejicanos, he replied that
he would not, “because…any offense that could be carried out against private
property, public property, against people, any physical aggression, is already regulated
in the penal codes of this country…Why do we need a law that [infringes upon] the
rights of the citizens, when there already exists a legal regulation in this sense?”
Interview subjects were often asked whether or not they thought that the law would
be revised or completely derogated if the FMLN won in the upcoming presidential,
congressional and municipal elections in 2009. Most subjects agreed that it would be
revised, but that it was unlikely to be completely removed from the penal code by a
victorious FMLN.
The antiterrorism law’s most notorious application occurred the following summer
after a protest against water privatization in the city of Suchitoto, approximately two
hours in driving distance from San Salvador. On July 2, 2007, protesters gathered in
the streets of Suchitoto to protest a plan that would effectively privatize the city’s water
supply. President Antonio Saca, who had been in route to the city, was forced to turn
back. The government claims that the protest was violent, while protesters claim that
the incident only became violent once the police began firing rubber bullets and tear
gas on participants. Those present at Suchitoto described a level of police violence
completely disproportionate to the scale of the event taking place. The fourteen who
would eventually be charged with terrorism described being tied and beaten by agents
of the UMO. They claimed that at one point they were subjected to what amounted to
torture when they were tied and lying on the floor of a helicopter and the police agents
transporting them threatened to throw them from the open door into the Suchitlán
Lake below. One of the women interviewed in this research, a single mother aged forty
at the time of the protest and a municipal employee in the community of Soyapango,
only learned four days after the incident that she was being charged with terrorism
and “making an attempt on the life of the president.” Terrorism charges against all

28
those captured were eventually dropped several months later, although those captured
initially spent a month or more in prison and were subjected to the ordeal of being
tried in the special tribunals.
DISCUSSION
This research sheds light on the dangers to human rights and due process posed by
counter-terrorism legislation framed in the rhetoric of the global war on terrorism.
Furthermore, the polarized nature of Salvadoran politics and society—as well as the
pre-existing Salvadoran discourse which equates dissent with terrorism and has its
roots in the social and political turmoil of the Civil War—combine to produce an
environment in which the introduction of counter-terrorism measures is especially
dangerous for freedom of speech and due process. Foreign analysts typically place
El Salvador’s antiterrorism legislation into one of two narratives; it is either defended
as a fitting response to a real international threat due to El Salvador’s participation in
the Iraq war, or it is criticized as a cynical imposition of the United States in an effort
to reinforce its influence on the institutions of a closely-allied government in the face
of a rising leftist tide in the hemisphere. I believe, however, that although both of
these views have a degree of merit, it may be more fruitful to examine the context of
Salvadoran politics and society into which the antiterrorism law was born.
To paraphrase an ARENA6
deputy in the Legislative Assembly who once argued for
the rooting out of domestic terrorist sympathizers, “terrorism is not created in a
vacuum”. It is evident from an examination of the discourse employed by the
Salvadoran government and state-aligned media in the years following September
11th that El Salvador’s antiterrorism legislation was likewise not created in a vacuum.
The circumstances that resulted in El Salvador’s Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism
are much more complicated than a simple desire to support the global war on
terrorism. The intersection of the polarized language of the Salvadoran discourse
which equates leftist political dissent with terrorism and the global legitimacy
bestowed on governments that participate in the war on terrorism has resulted in the
passage and application of legislation that may represent a profound threat to human
rights and the legality of political dissent.

29
Photographs taken at the July 30, 2008 March:
Figure 1. Student demonstrators from the the University of El Salvador (UES)
mock the Unidad de Mantenamiento del Orden, or UMO, on the occasion of an
annual march in San Salvador commemorating a massacre of students by the
state security forces on the 30th of July, 1975. The UMO, a special forces arm
of the PNC, is infamous for the methods it uses to disperse and suppress
demonstrations and riots.
Figure 2. A coffin-shaped float
prepared by students for the
march. On the side of the coffin
the words ley antiterrorist
[antiterrorism law] are clearly
visible, as well as the names of
former and current ARENA
politicians, ARENA party
paraphernalia, and an
American flag.

30
Figure 3.
The same coffin,
minutes later.
Figure 4. The Brigadas
Revolucionarias de Estudiantes
Salvadoreños[Revolutionary
Brigades of Salvadoran Students],
or BRES, is a frequent participant
in protests and demonstrations,
and its members were often and
prominently labeled as “terrorists”
by the government and media
following the aftermath of the
student protests in July, 2006.
Several BRES members were inter-
viewed days prior to the march.
Notes
1 Referred to in El Salvador as the ley antiterrorista.
2 Enzinna, Wes. “GWOT: El Salvador.” The Nation 12/13/2007 2007.
3 The FMLN emerged as the largest party in the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly and is in con-
trol of a larger number of municipal governments than any other party following the legislative
elections of January, 2009. Mauricio Funes, the FMLN’s presidential candidate, was elected in
the presidential elections of March 15th, 2009.
4 El Diario de Hoy (EDDH). “A La Cárcel Acusados Con Ley Antiterrorista.” El Diario de Hoy
2/16/2007 2007, sec. Nacionales.
5 Gobernación, Ministerio de. “Ley Especial Contra Actos De Terrorismo: Decreto No. 108.” Ed.
La Asamblea Legislativa de la República de El Salvador, 2006. 1-21.
6 Alianca Republicana Nacionalista [Republican Nationalist Alliance]. ARENA is a right-wing
Salvadoran political party that was in control of the national government for 19 years.

31
ABSTRACT
Directed by feminist pressure to respond more adequately to the problem
of domestic violence in the 1980s, the Brazilian government created all-
female police stations to deal only with reports of violence against
women. Using field research done in these all-female police stations in
Brazil (DDMs), this study analyzes the ways in which the criminal
justice system and a woman-centered advocacy approach can be more
holistically incorporated into domestic violence response systems in the
United States. Based on interviews and observations conducted within
these Brazilian police stations, this research proposes that the DDMs
demonstrate an important connection between criminal justice
goals and advocacy goals in domestic violence response services. This
connection, combined with the innovative structure of the DDMs,
presents important models for existing domestic violence response
systems in the United States as they struggle to keep up with the
increasing number of immigrant women in need of diverse services. By
applying successful aspects of the Brazilian domestic violence response
network to the imperfect system in the United States, this research
proposes that immigrant women in the United States will be best served
by a network that focuses on women’s particular, life-generated needs
rather than on pre-structured advocacy goals. Additionally, the study
suggests that combining the accountability and justice offered by the
criminal justice system with the support and empowerment offered
through advocacy services will provide more appropriate services to
immigrant women in the U.S. Ultimately, by juxtaposing the system in
Brazil with the system in the United States, this study hopes to propose
ways in which an international dialogue can help create sustainable and
realistic solutions for women in violent relationships.
FACULTY MENTOR: JAMI AKE, PH.D., LECTURER
IN THE HUMANITIES AND ASSISTANT DEAN IN
THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Dean Ake is based in the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities. She
advises a large number of students while also teaching for the Department
of Women and Gender Studies and the Department of English.
ACKNOWLED GEMENTS
To my advisor, Professor Jami Ake, for her patience, insight, and endless
support. Also, to Professor Barbara Baumgartner and the entire Women
and Gender Studies program, without whose encouragement and guidance
I would not have found this passion. To the School for International
Training and the amazing teachers who conduct the Fortaleza program
and to the women of Fortaleza’s Delegacia, whose voices have inspired
this research and whose hopes continue to motivate me. And to the
Biggs Family who generously supported this research through the
Andrea Biggs Award.
Author:
Paige Sweet
Paige is a May 2009 graduate
double-majoring in Women and
Gender Studies and English.
She is passionate about work-
ing with the issues of domestic
and sexual violence, which has
led her to explore those prob-
lems in an academic setting,
looking at potentially innovative
solutions. Paige hopes to con-
tinue to work in this field after
graduation, with the ultimate
goal of helping to provide vic-
tims of domestic violence with
the most effective solutions
possible.
Peer Editor:
Morgan Grossman-McKee, a
junior majoring in Economics
and Mathematics
KEY TERMS
• Deminism
• Domestic Violence
• Cultural
Competency
• Woman-centered
Advocacy
Lesson from the Delegacia:
Brazil’s All-Female Police Stations and Their Applications to
Culturally Competent Services in the United States

32
INTRODUCTION
This work studies the DDM (Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher), an all-female police
station dealing exclusively with reports of violence against women in city of
Fortaleza. This all-female police station structure was the first of its kind around the
world, and its unique approach generates important questions about how domestic
violence response systems in the United States should be executed. A brief overview of
how immigrant women are being under-served by the current domestic violence
response system in the United States is given to introduce a framework for applying
the successes of the DDMs to America. Insights from the work of the DDMs are drawn
that will propose methods through which some of these U.S. problems could be
resolved.
In particular, the DDMs introduce two key concepts for improving domestic
violence response systems in the United States. First, they come closer than most U.S.
services to using an approach called woman-centered advocacy, which is based on the
idea that services should respond directly to the unique situation of each victim.
Second, the DDMs highlight the importance of melding aspects of advocacy work into
criminal justice work in order to give victims a holistic response. By tying closely
together the goals of criminal justice and woman-centered advocacy approaches, the
DDM structure reaches toward the type of system that could be more genuinely
responsive to immigrant women in the U.S.
IMMIGRANT WOMEN IN THE U.S.
Immigrant women face unique challenges and have more vulnerabilities than non-
immigrant women. They are victims of domestic violence of due to a variety of
factors. Among these are language differences, cultural or racial discrimination, fear of
deportation, illegal alien status, fear of stigmatizing the community when coming
forward, lack of knowledge of services, and many more. Recent research suggests that
between 30% and 50% of immigrant women have been victims of physical or sexual
assault perpetrated by immigrant partners, and they are more likely than non-
immigrant women to be killed by intimate partners.1
With isolation, self-doubt, and
anxiety caused by being in an abusive relationship, immigrant women can face obstacles
when seeking support that seem almost insurmountable. Specifically,“[m]any women
partnered with such men are reluctant to risk triggering deportation and being
ostracized from their communities for doing so, particularly if the perpetrator might
be subjected to political persecution if forced to return to his home country.”2
Similarly, many immigrant women live in close proximity to their in-laws, while their
own families remain in their country of origin, thus increasing isolation and lack of
social support.3
Therefore, immigrant women face all of the obstacles associated with
abuse faced by non-immigrant women, and they have the added struggle of having to
deal with issues of language, citizen status and deportation problems, misperceptions
of their culture, and lack of access to appropriate resources.
As important as it is to understand the various obstacles that immigrant women
face, it is equally important not to generalize across cultural boundaries; for example,

33
it is documented that Latina women face more abuse when they contribute financially
to the household, while Vietnamese women are less likely to be abused when they hold
jobs.4
This disparity illuminates the importance of examining abused women’s
cultures on an individual level. For this reason, woman-centered advocacy is necessary
in order to appropriately address all of the complex intersectional issues underlying
these women’s realities.
While most researchers recognize the need for better services for immigrant
women in the United States, few connect that need to a reconsideration of the underlying
beliefs and assumptions of response services. One exception is Marianne Yoshioka,
who argues that culture has been made into a problem rather than a solution:
“Although there has been more interest in the ways that a woman’s cultural practices
and beliefs may place her at risk, there has been a decided lack of discussion about how
culture can facilitate unique solutions.”5
Yoshioka criticizes traditional feminist
responses to domestic violence that advocate for the woman to leave the relationship
and gain “independence,” as such responses assume two things: it is an option for
the woman to live as single and away from her family, and it is better for her to be
divorced than in an abusive relationship.6
These assumptions, prevalent among North
American domestic violence services, ignore culture and think of it as a hindrance to
“real” empowerment (implicitly and explicitly). ‘To question why North American
services are built upon these exclusionary principles and to achieve a more inclusive
model, it is critical to make culture a central and positive component of domestic
violence services.
PROBLEMS WITH THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
To compound the failings of the North American system in providing adequate
services to immigrant women, the U.S. is also struggling with how to effectively and
responsibly incorporate the criminal justice system into a comprehensive system
without losing focus on victims and their needs. While Brazil has made the police
station and the legal system the focal point of its domestic violence efforts, U.S.
feminists are hesitant to embrace the criminal justice system because of its history of
mistreating abused women. In fact, the feminist movement’s response to violence
against women began as a grassroots movement positioned against the legal and penal
neglect of abused women.
However, as the feminist movement realized how important legal and penal
processes are to the safety and future of battered women, they began to infiltrate and
work with the legal system, lobbying for legislation and training police officers.7
While
this process facilitated communication and cooperation between the anti-violence
movement and the police and courts, feminist advocates remain largely dissatisfied
with the criminal justice system, citing the harsh treatment of battered women in
courts and the disbelief of the woman’s story often expressed by police officers.
In addition to specific claims of how the legal and penal systems have mistreated
abused women, feminist suspicion of these institutions runs on an even deeper level.
Many feminists believe that law-makers and enforcers are involved in the maintenance
of male-dominated hierarchies. As Kathleen Ferraro states: “It is still debatable
whether the existing legal system can work in support of women’s empowerment …

34
the creation of laws against domestic violence is limited as a tool for assisting women’s
escape from violent [relationships].”
On the other hand, Ferraro also writes: “most U.S. writers argue that increasing
legal sanctions against batterers will empower battered women and discourage male
abuse. The question … [is] who controls the use of the law and for what purposes.”8
Therefore, if legal and penal systems were to become invested in the safety of women
and the eradication of domestic violence (rather than only in punishment after the
fact, often in spite of women’s wishes), the negative relationship between feminism
and these institutions would presumably cease. It is this idea that I consider when I
propose that a healthy and comprehensive domestic violence response system should
incorporate the criminal justice system.
THE DDMS
Brazil’s DDM is composed of female police officers who deal with intakes and collect
evidence, as well two female police chiefs who have been trained as officers and also
hold law degrees. When a woman makes a report of domestic violence, a police officer
conducts an intake with her, asking about the details of the situation and arranging for
corroboration from witnesses. Soon after this meeting, the alleged abuser will receive
a police document asking him to present himself at the DDM on a certain date, at
which point he will meet with the police chief and the victim. Much time was spent
observing these meetings, called “audiências.” Police officers in the United States deal
with the issue of violence against women almost solely in the role of a criminal justice
system official, writing reports and testifying during legal proceedings if necessary;
contrastingly, the police chiefs in Brazil used the “audiências” to involve themselves in
the lives of the people involved, often dispensing personal advice or reprimanding the
abuser. The police chiefs listened to both sides of the story, always gave support and
belief to the victim, and were nonjudgmental if the victim decided to stay in the rela-
tionship. The flexibility of the outcomes of these meetings, often ending in a decision
for divorce between the two parties, or attendance to drug and alcohol rehabilitation,
demonstrates the police chiefs’ commitment to meeting victims’ needs, not imposing
their own ideas for what constitutes a “good” outcome onto the woman. In this way,
the “audiências” are examples of how criminal justice goals of prosecution and
accountability can be joined with advocacy goals of victim empowerment and safety.
Direct observations of the “audiências” demonstrated a concerned and involved
attitude from the police chiefs toward the victims and their situations; these meetings
worked to assure the victim that the police chief was aligned with her on the subject
of abuse, and also to persuade the abuser that domestic violence is against the law and
can never be excusable. There is one police chief, Cecília, who is the leader of the
DDM, and a social worker/detective, Estela, who acts as a second police chief due to
the volume of reports. Estela explained to me that the DDM is not required by law to
conduct “audiências:” “We do it by our own accord because every case is different.
The woman needs a response because the inquiry takes time.”9
That the DDM does
these intensive meetings even though they are not required by law is a statement about
their concern for the victims and the amount of attention they are willing to give their
cases. Without these meetings, the women would not hear from the DDM for months

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