NCJ Number
147261
Date Published
1994
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the intervention and rehabilitative roles for the health care system within a coordinated community response to domestic assault.
Abstract
Major barriers to cooperation between the criminal justice system, the health care system, and the social service system are attitudes in each system that the other systems should address the problem. Each system tends to blame victims for the abuse and hold them accountable for changing or stopping it. An appropriate health care response should combine physical and psychological care. Basic principles should include safety for victims and their children, respect for victims' integrity and authority in their lives, holding abusers accountable, advocacy on behalf of victims and their children, and changing the health care system. The response to individual cases includes responding to the immediate trauma or health care issue; identifying and assessing the abuse; intervention, treatment, and patient education; referral to other resources and coordination with them; and ongoing followup. Universal, routine screening for domestic violence is crucial to the mission of the health care system. The health care system should then respond appropriately, depending on whether the patient is a victim or an abuser. List of recommended actions and 13 references