Violence Against Women: Synthesis of Research for Task Forces and Coalition Members

• NCJ Number: 199912
• Author(s): Alissa Pollitz Worden
• Date Published: December 2000
• Length: 27 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Research Report
• Grant Number(s): 98-WT-VX-K011
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

This federally funded report summarizes, for local task force members and leadership, research in areas of conventional wisdom about domestic violence, offenders, and victims, research on criminal justice reforms, and research on the initiation, implementation, and impact of community-level change efforts.

Abstract

Coming from different professional backgrounds and responsible for different constituencies, participants in local task forces involved in violence against women confront an enormous amount of information, recommendations, and opportunities for change. Therefore, task force members can benefit from sharing what researchers have learned about conventional wisdom regarding domestic violence and criminal justice. This report funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, attempts to synthesize social science research in three broad topic areas of interest to task force members and coalition members. It begins with a revisiting and revising of conventional wisdom about domestic violence, victims, and offenders. Conventional wisdom about violence, victims, and offenders has frequently served to justify longstanding policies and practices. However, such assumptions should be scrutinized since they can oversimplify complex issues, sometimes overgeneralize from limited experiences, and can become self-fullfilling prophecies. The report continues by briefly summarizing the findings of research of particular interest to practitioners involved in community-level innovations. These findings lead to an important point: the effectiveness of many innovations may be contingent on the consistency of the messages exchanged among victims, offenders, and practitioners. The final topic area discusses research on the initiation, implementation, and impact of community-level change efforts. The report summarizes usable, research-based information on questions and problems that confront people who are working to better coordinate the response of community agencies, especially criminal justice agencies, to domestic violence. References