This is the second in a two-part special issue on the nation's research agenda on violence against women (VAW). As introduced in Part 1, this special issue is not the definitive word on what the nation's research agenda should be, nor is it the final critique on the current state of research in this critical area. Rather, this special issue is an informative contribution to the nation's dialogue on the empirical study of a phenomenon that deleteriously affects a significant population of women across the United States and, indeed, around the world. The articles for this two-part special issue derive from a national research conference coordinated in late 2003 by the University of Kentucky Center for Research on VAW. The conference commissioned 10 articles on select contemporary questions regarding VAW, including the following: How should one define VAW? What are its primary health and mental health consequences? Does the legal system provide safety for women? What do women need to know about risk? How does substance use play a role? What are the implications of race and ethnicity with respect to abuse perpetration? Is there a common typology for offenders? And how can researchers and advocates collaborate toward the common end of quality research? The goal of these articles and the 13 discussant responses provided to each of them was to synopsize the extant literature and to formulate areas of need for future empirical study.