Everett, Washington, Arrest Policies Project: A Process Evaluation

• NCJ Number: 201870
• Author(s): Deborah L. Spence
• Date Published: October 2000
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): 98-WE-VX-0012
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

This evaluation report on the Everett Arrest Policies Project (Washington State) -- a Federal grant project intended to encourage jurisdictions to implement mandatory or proarrest policies as an effective domestic-violence intervention that is part of a coordinated community response -- addresses the project environment, as well as the development and implementation of the Everett Domestic Violence Unit.

Abstract

The city was awarded two 18-month Arrest Program grants to implement a Domestic Violence Enhanced Prosecution Effectiveness project, which includes a Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) to be administered by the City Attorney's Office. The DVU is a collaboration with various local partners, primarily the Everett Police Department and the Snohomish County Center for battered Women. The DVU was launched with a $314,005 Arrest Program grant awarded in March 1997. The project's overall goal was to increase the successful prosecution of misdemeanor domestic-violence charges by 50 percent within 18 months. Key project personnel proposed for the project were a city prosecutor to handle all domestic-violence cases, a police sergeant, a victim/witness coordinator, and an office assistant. The second grant supported one full-time advocate to serve residents. The process evaluation obtained relevant data from interviews, program documentation, and a review of local statistics. The evaluation determined that the Arrest Project has met its primary measure of success; the percentage of successful prosecutions, compared to the number of cases referred, has increased since the project began; however, despite intentions stated in project goals and objectives, advocacy has become a separate entity outside the project. There is room for considerable expansion of the role played by the Snohomish County Center for Battered Women. This would improve the project's efforts to enhance victim safety. As of the time of the evaluation's site visit, not much was being done to increase the role of probation in the project. Without improvements in the monitoring of probationers, the only way the project can hold batterers accountable is through rigorous, victimless prosecution, and this might jeopardize victim safety. The implementation of project plans for judicial education would also improve both victim safety and offender accountability.