Evaluating Domestic Violence Interventions for Black Women

• NCJ Number: 224004
• Author(s): Robert L. Hampton; Jaslean J. LaTaillade; Alicia Dacey; J. R. Marghi
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For related articles see NCJ-223998-224003

Annotation

This article examines restorative justice approaches that incorporate and go beyond criminal justice interventions by including the needs and concerns of African-American female victims, offenders, and the larger community.

Abstract

Despite the numerous interventions offered through the law enforcement and criminal justice systems, a review of the literature suggests that such interventions as currently offered may be ineffective in serving the needs of battered African-American women. In restorative justice approaches, domestic violence is viewed not as a legal violation, but as a problem affecting the victim, the abuser, and the community as a whole. The advantage of a restorative approach is that it serves to empower African-American women who are victims of domestic violence by actively encouraging them to voice their desires for restoration and healing, to express how they would like their abuser held accountable, and incorporate their wishes in designing effective solutions to end violence. In addition to restorative justice, several modifications are suggested in the use of mandatory arrest and intervention laws and policies. As currently designed, mandatory policies deny women choice and fail to acknowledge African-American women’s multiple allegiances to themselves, to their partners, and to their communities, and also ignore African-American women’s negative history with and mistrust in the criminal justice system. In addition to restorative justice and the modification of mandatory policies, the adoption of a community-based approach has the ability to impact multiple aspects of the social environment in which African-American couples and families reside. The community becomes an active participant in determining the response to domestic violence. This review provides some understanding of how the experiences of African-American battered women are informed by their unique minority status and proposes additions and recommendations to current practices in law enforcement and judicial systems responses that promote trust and utilization of available services on the part of the victim, while being culturally sensitive. Notes and references