The study examined the relation between conjugal violence and estrangement and found them to be positively associated, but they could vary independently. The study also examined the association between estrangement and interventions. Estrangement was associated with private, private/public and mainly public interventions depending on the level of estrangement. High levels of estrangement were strongly but not invariably associated with ending the relationship. A review of the link between interventions and violence disclosed that interventions which empower battered female partners are most effective in ending male partner violence. Taken together, the findings tend not to support hypotheses derived from the theory of male proprietariness. The article makes several recommendations, including: social and economic policies that promote gender equality; criminal and civil justice policies that facilitate greater female victim control over processing; and police training in mediation. Notes, references