NCJ Number
214197
Date Published
March 2006
Length
75 pages
Annotation
This manual, developed in the United Kingdom and designed for professionals developing a specialist domestic violence (DV) court system, describes the 11 components of a domestic violence court program.
Abstract
Specialized DV court programs combine criminal justice and noncriminal justice interventions to DV and are an integral part of a comprehensive and multi-agency response DV. The Specialist Domestic Violence Court (SDVC) Programme in the United Kingdom created a response to DV that included court processes, police processes, and health and social care interventions that highlighted the importance of perpetrator accountability and victim assistance. To refine the approach of setting up DV court systems, stakeholders from the DV sector and a government official group identified 11 core components that should be considered when setting up a specialized DV court system. The first half of the manual discusses each of these 11 components in turn, which are identified as: (1) multi-agency partnerships with protocols; (2) multi-agency risk assessment and risk management procedures for victims, perpetrators, and children; (3) identification of cases; (4) specialist domestic violence support services; (5) trained and dedicated criminal justice staff; (6) court listing considerations; (7) equality and diversity issues; (8) data collection and monitoring; (9) court facilities; (10) children’s services; and (11) community-based perpetrator programs. Advice and recommendations are offered concerning how to incorporate these components into a developing court system. Good practice examples are presented and resources for further information are identified. The second half of the manual consists of the annex and contains useful information for those developing specialized DV court systems, such as diversity issues that should be considered with setting up the court systems and support services. Other issues addressed in the annex include a description of services available for male victims of DV, resources for locating DV services, program resources for perpetrators of DV, and key standards for perpetrator programs. Tables, figures, footnotes, annex