Response to Domestic Violence in a Pro-Active Court Setting - Final Report

• NCJ Number: 181427
• Author(s): Eve Buzawa Ph.D.; Gerald T. Hotaling Ph.D.; Andrew Klein Ph.D.; James Byrne Ph.D.
• Date Published: July 1999
• Length: 256 pages
• Grant Number(s): 95-IJ-CX-0027
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

This report provides an overview of the Quincy, Massachusetts, District Court (QDC) domestic violence program.

Abstract

The QDC program is an integrated system-wide response to the many problems clustered together as “domestic incidents” -- e.g., child-on-parent assault, sibling abuse, non-intimates residing in the same household, same sex intimate assaults -- by local police, court and corrections administrators. The report examines previous evaluation research on domestic violence interventions, batterers and victims, repeat victimization and the link between domestic violence and generalized violence. It also provides an overview of the methodology used in the report; a detailed description of the types of domestic violence cases addressed by the model program during the review period; an exploration of police-citizen interactions; insight into the prosecutorial response to domestic violence; an examination of patterns of reoffending and revictimization; and a summary of the study’s major findings along with implications for policy and practice in the criminal justice response to domestic violence. Notes, tables, references