NCJ Number
210046
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 11 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2005 Pages: 792-821
Date Published
June 2005
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This article identifies challenges and proposes strategies for training police officers in the prevention of domestic violence and racism.
Abstract
Racism and domestic violence are highly charged and emotionally intense topics that are usually faced with denial and resistance, presenting a challenge in the teaching and training field. Generally, police officers are not trained to see how domestic violence intersects with other hierarchical systems of domination, such as sexism and racism. This article, which stems from a 1-day police training in the fall of 2001 which focused on discrimination experienced by battered women of color and battered immigrant women, discusses the problems faced and proposes strategies to mitigate them. The goals of the article include: (1) identify challenges in training police officers about the barriers faced by battered women of color and immigrant women; (2) propose training strategies; and (3) initiate a dialogue. A three-tiered approach to training police officers is proposed and includes: pre-training, training, and follow-up. This proposed approach attempts to merge successful strategies with new innovative approaches to teaching found in the literature. The central argument is that before addressing specific barriers faced by immigrant women and women of color, it is imperative to build trust and address institutional discrimination. References