The report found that battered women continue to face severe problems. Societal attitudes reflecting the second-class status of women continue to prevail and to influence criminal justice and social service institutions, their personnel, their policies, and their procedures. The criminal justice system generally fails to provide meaningful assistance to battered women, the criminal statutes are too weak, and police officers often do not treat battering cases as criminal acts requiring arrest. Furthermore, shelters and support services are inadequately funded, civil proceedings are inadequate, and financial aid for battered women is often unavailable. The report recommends that the penal and procedural codes should be modified to resolve the legal barriers providing difficulties for battered women. Police should set guidelines related to battering, a victim's assistance center should be established, and jail sentences should be imposed on batterers in more instances than are currently being imposed. There should be a statewide network of publicly funded shelters for battered women, and guidelines should be developed to assure that public assistance is uniformly administered in all localities. Footnotes are included.