Multisite Evaluation of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Approach to Violence Against Women in Illinois

• NCJ Number: 247379
• Author(s): David E. Gruenenfelder, M.A.; Janice R. Hill-Jordan, Ph.D.; Peter C. Weitzel, M.Ed.
• Date Published: July 2013
• Length: 320 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2010-WF-AX-0064; 2009-EF-S6-0017
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women
• Corporate Author: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Sale Source: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The methodology and findings are reported from an evaluation of four Illinois county multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) that coordinated local services related to the strengthening of law enforcement, prosecution, and victim services in cases that involve violent crimes against women.

Abstract

Three of the programs focused on domestic violence, and one program addressed sexual assault. Regarding program implementation, the MDTs improved education about each team member's professional capabilities and orientation. A strength of the MDT model is improved communication among MDT members and increased appreciation of how the resources of each contribute to the common objective of preventing and mitigating violent crimes against women. Across all sites, the project coordinator sustained the functioning and effectiveness of MDT operations; and a steering committee was also a key component of a well-functioning MDT. Detailed recommendations are provided for improving how MDTs operate. There was consistency across sites in the challenges faced by the MDTs, the nature of these challenges and how best to respond to them are discussed in this report. The impact portion of the evaluation was restricted to an examination of arrest data and did not involve an advanced regression analysis. For the counties that targeted domestic violence, the average number of domestic-violence (DV) arrests and total charges per year increased slightly in two of the counties and moderately in the third county. Comparison counties without MDTs showed a stable rate of DV arrests over the years examined. There was no significant change in DV recidivism rates across the three counties. All county types had declines in the average number of sexual assault arrests per capita in the MDT years; however, the MDT county that focused on sexual assault had a much higher per capita sexual assault arrest rate than the other counties both before and after the MDT years. Extensive tables and 5 figures