Carolyn Hartley

Carolyn Copps Hartley, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on legal system responses to intimate partner violence (IPV). She uses the lens of therapeutic jurisprudence, which posits that legal rules and procedures, and agents of the legal system (advocates, lawyers, judges, etc.) act as social forces that can produce positive, therapeutic effects, or negative, anti-therapeutic effects for the mental health and psychological functioning of the non-agents (victims, defendants, witnesses) participating in the system.  Her most recent project, in collaboration with Iowa Legal Aid, examined the long-term effects of civil legal services on battered women. She has also studied criminal court responses to IPV, including defense strategies used in domestic violence felony trials and specialized prosecution programs.  Since 2008, Professor Hartley has also served as the lead faculty trainer for the Iowa Victim Assistance Academy, which trains service providers working with crime victims in the state of Iowa.