Measuring Violence Against Women: Recommendations From an Interagency Workshop

• NCJ Number: 184447
• Journal: National Institute of Justice Journal Dated: October 2000 Pages: 18-19
• Date Published: October 2000
• Length: 2 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Journal
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Conference Material

Annotation

This article summarizes the proceedings and recommendations from an interagency workshop intended to advance the measurement of violence against women and the performance of sound research.

Abstract

The workshop, sponsored by the Federal Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, had three general goals. One goal was to share information on the current state of data collection and measurement of violence against women, especially intimate partner violence and sexual violence. A second goal was to identify the gaps in and limitations of existing data systems for collecting information about these types of violence against women. The third goal was to develop recommendations about data-collection and measurement that would assist researchers in better describing and tracking violence against women in order to better prevent and respond to it. The basis for the workshop discussions consisted of background papers on several key issues, including definitional and methodological issues and the collection of national, State, and local data that reflect both public health and criminal justice perspectives. Workshop participants divided violence against women into five major components: physical violence, sexual violence, threats of physical and/or sexual violence, stalking, and psychological/emotional abuse. Participants recommended that in future writings the phrase "violence and abuse against women" be used to refer to the combination of all five components; whereas, the first three components alone should be called "violence against women." Other recommendations pertain to estimation of the size of the problem, interpretation of data, ensuring confidentiality and safety, and continuing scientific collaboration.