NCJ Number
138323
Journal
Judges' Journal Volume: 31 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1992) Pages: 10-17,32- 36
Date Published
1992
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This report discusses court response and service access for victims of domestic violence in rural communities; the analysis is based on data about domestic violence gathered by researchers, service providers, and criminal justice systems.
Abstract
Rural victims of domestic violence find it difficult to use the courts to seek protection because of the characteristics unique to the rural environment including familiarity, tacit knowledge, isolation, traditional attitudes, poverty, and court practices. About half of all counties reported either no requests or negligible numbers of temporary protection order (TPO) requests. Furthermore, court, mental health, law enforcement, and advocacy resources for rural victims are limited. Rural judges and court administrators generally lack the education and information on domestic abuse that would allow them to make decisions that protect victims while preserving abusers' rights. Critical components of victim access, identified through visits to higher-request courts and lower-request courts, include attitude, education, judicial availability, court procedure, victim assistance, fee waivers, forms, and advocacy. Judges ruling on domestic violence protection order cases need to have all the relevant facts in a particular case as well as the knowledge and understanding to interpret those facts correctly.