Coordinated Police, Judicial, and Social Service Response to Woman Battering: A Multiple-baseline Evaluation Across Three Communities (From Coping With Family Violence: Research and Policy Perspectives, P 193-211, 1988, Gerald T Hotaling, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-114444)

• NCJ Number: 114456
• Author(s): D J Gamache; J L Edleson; M D Schock
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

An evaluation of coordinated police, judicial, and social service interventions in woman battering in three suburban Minneapolis communities showed that a coordinated community effort can dramatically change the traditional modes of responding by the law enforcement and criminal justice systems.

Abstract

The programs rested on the views that neither men nor women have a right to use violence except in self-defense against a physical assault, that violence reflects a societal norm accepting violence by males to maintain their power, and that social systems must bear the responsibility for confronting men who batter. The projects had the main intervention goal of ending the violence and provided coordinated interventions to ensure that the batterer would be confronted and that the female victim would have support from the social systems. The evaluation used official records on the frequency of domestic calls to the police, the arrests of assailants, and judicial system outcomes from May 1982 through February 1984. Findings showed significant impacts in both the police and judicial responses. Results also show that a large amount of staff effort is needed to bring about change. Figures and 14 references.