Post-Incarceration Partner Violence: Examining the Social Context of Victimization to Inform Victim Services and Prevention

Statement of the Problem: Despite the very high prevalence of post-incarceration partner violence observed in the first study to rigorously measure it (the Multi-site Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and Partnering), little is known of the social contextual factors that shape violent victimization in justice-involved couples. Our study will address this gap by assessing the role of contextual factors that empirical and theoretical work suggests could affect partner violence in this vulnerable population. We will translate our findings to inform context-responsive victim services approaches and to identify theories of change and key leverage points for primary and secondary prevention. Partnerships: The project team combines RTI International’s internal expertise in research on partner violence and on family relationships among justice-involved couples with the skills of two nationally known experts in research on the social context of partner violence, Drs. Michael Johnson and Oliver Williams. Design and Analytic Methods: RTI proposes a highly structured, theory-based analytic approach designed to deliver findings of clear relevance for victim services, prevention, and future research—while also adequately focusing on dissemination. We will first conduct a theory-driven typology analysis to describe the social context of post-incarceration partner violence at the couple level. We will disseminate our findings to inform context-responsive victim services approaches with this population (Goal 1). We will then use quantitative modeling and in-depth qualitative analysis to assess the individual-, couple/family-, and community-level contexts that shape partner violence. Dissemination of this work will inform primary and secondary prevention (Goal 2). Study Products and Data Archiving: To ensure that our findings reach those whom they are intended to serve, we will produce two fact sheets, a Web-based training, a policy brief, an in-person federal briefing, two journal articles, and user-friendly public-use data extracts for archiving. We will distribute these products using approximately two dozen dissemination channels that are commonly accessed by victim services providers, advocates, criminal justice system responders, program developers, federal staff, policymakers, and researchers. ca/ncf