NCJ Number
184562
Date Published
August 1999
Length
34 pages
Annotation
In this "Opening Celebration," conference speakers review the progress that has been made in countering domestic violence over the last 30 years; they also identify issues to be addressed in the future.
Abstract
The movement against domestic violence has been fueled by efforts to involve all those institutions, organizations, and professionals that are strategically important in preventing and responding effectively to domestic violence. This includes the criminal justice system, social service agencies, the health care system, and grassroots advocacy and victim-service groups. Advances have been made in combating domestic violence because leaders from these groups have worked together to develop policies and procedures that reflect research findings on what is most effective in preventing and responding to domestic violence. Barbara Hart, a victim of domestic violence and a leader in the movement against it, reflects on the lessons that she and the movement have learned in the first 25 years of the movement. The primary lesson she identifies is that change occurs when caring people act to cooperate in supporting and serving victims through insightful individual action and the forming of structures of cooperation that can expand and lend uniformity to victim services. She advises, however, that ethnic cultural differences require that efforts against domestic violence be tailored to the cultural values and perspectives that frame victims' needs and attitudes.