Domestic Violence Courts

You can find legal information and safety planning assistance at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/protection/dv/

Of Current Interest

Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence Court (12/2004) (PDF, 120 KB)
Judges, attorneys, and other justice system professionals came together in September to discuss the possibility of creating a coordinated response to the co-occurrence of domestic violence and substance abuse by using a problem-solving court model.

Planning a Domestic Violence Court: The New York State Experience (2004) (PDF, 132 KB)
By Robert V. Wolf, Liberty Aldrich and Samantha Moore
A close look at the development of the Domestic Violence Court Model in New York State, with a special focus on the launching of the Brooklyn Felony Domestic Violence Court in 1996.

Juvenile Domestic Violence Court Receives Honor (PDF)
The Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, is pleased to announce that its Juvenile Domestic and Family Violence Court has been chosen as one of the "Top 50" programs in the 2004 Innovations in American Government Awards competition. The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government administers the Innovations program. The objectives of the Innovations program competition are to communicate to the public information about government effectiveness, to give recognition to especially effective programs, and to improve government performance by identifying programs that may be worthy of replication. The 50 selected programs represent 7 percent of the 2004 applicant pool.

University Offers M.P.A. Degree with a Domestic Violence Focus
The University of Colorado at Denver's Graduate School of Public Affairs now offers its Master of Public Administration degree with a concentration in Domestic Violence Program Management and Policy Development through a new distance-learning format.

Reaching out to people across the nation, the Program on Domestic Violence (PDV) is available through a combination of online courses and five intensive class sessions in the Denver, Colorado area. Intensives are planned for no more than a week (4-7 days) per session in order to accommodate even the most demanding of schedules.

Participants in the Program on Domestic Violence take a mixture of courses designed to build strong management and policy-making skills. Domestic violence courses provide an opportunity to develop extensive knowledge of the social, historical and psychological factors underlying violence against women. Topics include the impact of violence on children; strategies for intervention, prevention and change; intersections of violence with race, gender and class; and legal and policy implications.

For more information, please call the Graduate School of Public Affairs at 303-556-5970/5994 or e-mail barbara.paradiso@cudenver.edu. Members of the staff and faculty are available to speak with you on an individual basis to answer any questions that you may have. Additional information is also available on our website: www.cudenver.edu/gspa .

What are Domestic Violence Courts?

Domestic violence courts represent a broad range of specialized approaches to handling intimate partner violence in family, juvenile, general civil, and criminal proceedings. In May 2000, the Judicial Council released Domestic Violence Courts: A Descriptive Study, in response to California Family Code section 6390 mandating that the council conduct a descriptive study of domestic violence courts in the state. In this report, the term "domestic violence court" refers to those courts that assign judicial officers to hear a special domestic violence calendar, regardless of whether the judicial officers hear those cases exclusively or as part of a mixed assignment. The major features of domestic violence courts can be grouped as (1) case assignment, (2) screening for related cases, (3) intake units and case processing, (4) service provision, and (5) monitoring. The study elaborates on each of these areas.

In handling domestic violence matters, courts may combine their civil and criminal domestic violence cases on one calendar, or they might hear the cases on different calendars. Some courts assign all their domestic violence cases to one judicial officer; others reserve one day a week for hearings on domestic violence cases conducted by judges who handle mixed caseloads.

Although domestic violence courts are similar to other collaborative justice courts in many ways, it is important to note that there may be significant differences. For example, in domestic matters, victim safety is a particularly serious concern. Assessing the effectiveness of various approaches to addressing victim safety and perpetrator accountability poses significant challenges for courts and court-connected services. An article in the Administrative Office of the Courts' Journal of the Center for Families, Children & the Courts, entitled "Domestic Violence: Components and Considerations," (PDF) addresses these issues in greater detail.

Links

Domestic violence legal information for California, including a guide to safety planning

Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, Domestic Violence Courts: A Descriptive Study (May 2000) (PDF)

"Domestic Violence: Components and Considerations" (2000) Vol. 2, Journal of the Center for Families, Children & the Courts

Emily Sack, J.D., Creating a Domestic Violence Court: Guidelines and Best Practices (2002)

For information on the evaluation of batterer intervention programs: http://www.iup.edu/maati/publications/