NCJ Number
212760
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 46-67
Date Published
January 2006
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined the operation and perceived success of Domestic Violence Coordinating Councils (DVCCs).
Abstract
Recent efforts to offer a comprehensive and seamless response to domestic violence have produced DVCCs, which bring together community stakeholders from a variety of sectors to promote a collaborative approach to domestic violence intervention. While time, energy, and money have been invested in developing DVCCs as a vehicle for community collaboration on domestic violence, there has been little research concerning the extent to which DVCCs are successful in realizing their goals. Key informant interviews were conducted with 41 DVCC leaders of 41 DVCCs in 1 State. The in-depth interviews focused on the counsel characteristics, activities, and history. Additionally, 511 DVCC members were surveyed via mail mainly about the council climate and the perceived effectiveness of the leadership. Results of statistical analyses indicated that DVCC leadership generally viewed their councils as moderately effective at accomplishing their goal of a coordinated response to domestic violence within the criminal justice and community sectors. Councils were more likely to address reforms within the criminal justice sector than within the community sector and a different set of predictors was used to measure goal accomplishment within the criminal justice sector. The author suggests that DVCCs should begin to focus more attention on the community sector response to domestic violence in order to continue moving toward a collaborative response to domestic violence. Tables, note, references