Coordinated Community Responses to Domestic Violence in Six Communities: Beyond the Justice System. Summary

摘要

The past two decades have seen dramatic changes in the response to domestic violence in states and communities throughout the United States. To date, a great deal of the change has occurred within the criminal and civil justice systems. In many communities the justice systems have experienced a number of important changes in their laws and agency practices related to domestic violence. As a result many justice systems now respond to domestic violence in a way that is more likely than in the past to hold perpetrators accountable and to protect and support battered women. At the same time, social services for battered women have become more widely available with substantial growth in domestic violence hotlines and shelter services, and batterer intervention programs have been developed and made available in many communities. This study examines coordinated responses to domestic violence in six communities: Baltimore, Maryland; Kansas City, Missouri; Carlton and Northern St. Louis Counties (rural counties in Minnesota); San Diego, California; and San Francisco, California. Each of these communities has expanded their response to include a broad array of agencies beyond the justice system. As communities draw in different kinds of services, they will face challenges in integrating these new services into the existing network. They will also encounter issues related to the fact that the clients of these newly-integrated services are likely to have different attitudes and motivations than the women who traditionally have sought shelter and other domestic violence services on their own. This report describes some of the experiences that communities have faced as they strive toward a coordinated response to domestic violence.