Lenore Edna Walker is an American psychologist who founded the Domestic Violence Institute, documented the

cycle of abuse The cycle of abuse is a social cycle theory developed in 1979 by Lenore E. Walker to explain patterns of behavior in an abusive relationship. The phrase is also used more generally to describe any set of conditions which perpetuate abusive an ...

and wrote ''The Battered Woman,'' published in 1979, for which she won the Distinguished Media Award that year. She was inducted into the

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of 2020, 170 women have been inducted. History There was a short-lived recogniti ...

in 1987.

Biography

Lenore Edna Walker was born in New York City on October 3, 1942. She lived and worked in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, where she was a licensed psychologist, was a leader in the field of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

, and was president and chief executive officer of Walker & Associates. To research family violence, Walker founded the Domestic Violence Institute.Lenore Walker, EdD.
Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 12, 2014. She has testified as an expert witness in trials involving domestic abuse and had developed domestic violence training programs and drafted legislative reform. Walker interviewed 1,500 women who had been subject to domestic violence and found that there was a similar pattern of abuse, called the "

". She wrote the book ''The Battered Woman'' for which she won the Distinguished Media Award the same year. In 1995, Walker testified for O. J. Simpson during his trial for the murders of his ex-wife,

Nicole Brown Simpson Nicole Brown Simpson (née Brown; May 19, 1959 – June 12, 1994) was the ex-wife of the former professional American football player, O. J. Simpson, to whom she was married from 1985 to 1992. She was the mother of their two children, Sydney an ...

, and her friend,

Ron Goldman Ronald Lyle Goldman (July 2, 1968 – June 12, 1994) was an American restaurant waiter and a friend of Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of the American football player O.J. Simpson. He was murdered, along with Brown, at her home in Los Angele ...

. Since evidence of Simpson physically abusing Brown in the past had already been shown by the prosecution, to the point that he had once been arrested and pleaded no contest for spousal abuse, Walker's colleagues accused her of betraying her advocacy for financial gain. The

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission to be the voice of victims and survivors of domestic violence. Based in Denver, Colorado. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence ...

wrote of Walker's assessment of Simpson, " tis absolutely the opposite of the assessment of most battered women's advocates in this country." During the subsequent civil trial, Walker testified against him instead and testified for the Goldmans.

Published works

* ''The Battered Woman'', 1979 * ''Getting it All Women in the Eighties, Women and Mental Health'' * ''The Battered Woman Syndrome''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Lenore Edna American women psychologists 21st-century American psychologists 1942 births Living people 21st-century American women 20th-century American psychologists