Developing Policies and Protocols (From Coordinating Community Responses to Domestic Violence: Lessons From Duluth and Beyond, P 41-64, 1999, Melanie F. Shepard and Ellen L. Pence, eds. -- See NCJ-180760)

• NCJ Number: 180761
• Author(s): Ellen L. Pence; Coral McDonnell
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 24 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper uses the authors' more than 15 years of experience with the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) in Duluth, Minn., to discuss how to develop policies and protocols that enhance victim safety in dealing with situations involving domestic assault.

Abstract

The DAIP works to hold batterers accountable for their actions. It does not assume that all violence is the same, assumes that most victims of ongoing abuse are safer if the government or court has some level of control over the offender, and assumes that using violence against a parent adversely affects the child. Lessons learned during the development of policies over a long time period included the need to consider the political realities of the multiagency response; assess current practices relative to the primary goals of intervention; build practice into everyday work routines; and be careful about defining categories of offenses, offenders, or victims. Other lessons related to the use of policies to control the screening of cases, the length of time required for changes in policies and practices, the use of policies to control for appropriate levels of responses and link people together, and the need for training and followup. A final lesson related to the need to recognize that victims and victim advocates are allies and not enemies of the court system. The DAIP uses a template as an outline for any new policy and a checklist when thinking through a policy. Text of template and checklist, note, and 3 references