The objectives of the issue are to showcase criminal justice responses that might significantly decrease rates of VAW, as well as to expand the intellectual discussion beyond the criminal justice system toward other responses that might also effectively address VAW. The motivation for this issue is the journal's recognition that there has been relatively little systematic attention to understanding the benefits and limits of criminalization and criminal justice responses to VAW outside of North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Although the contributions to this special issue assist in understanding the approaches that can make a difference to women experiencing intimate partner violence, most of the evidence presented pertains to why it is difficult to devise strategies that work. The seven papers presented focus on experiences from diverse political, economic, and social spectra. Still there are several themes that emerge from the papers. One theme is the challenge of implementing and delivering, within various local contexts, policies and practices that are internationally recognized as progressive. A second theme is the challenge of working to improve services for all victims of VAW, while recognizing and addressing individual needs and concerns. This theme pertains to making responses to VAW culturally sensitive to victims. The third theme focuses on multiagency initiatives that create the potential for addressing the limitations of the criminal justice system in countering VAW. This introductory article notes that one of the difficulties in selecting articles for this special issue was assessing the quality of the research approaches. Several of the papers used innovative methodological approaches that merit attention. 48 references