The Roles of Phones and Computers in Threatening and Abusing Women Victims ofMale Intimate Partner Abuse

Telephones are intimate partner abuse (IPA) victims’ easiest and quickest access to help (i.e., 911 calls), support, and court case information.1 A considerable amount of anecdotal research points to cases where victims’ telephones have been damaged or broken, stolen, and even used as weapons by their abusers.2 To a far lesser extent, research has indicated that some IPA offenders break, take, or otherwise limit their victims’ access to computers.3 A larger body of research, however, documents phone harassment as the most