Juan Carlos Areán speaks with Amirthini Keefe, executive director of the Domestic Abuse Project (DAP) in Minneapolis, and Sadie Cunningham, intervention and prevention program therapist at DAP, about centering racial justice in abusive partner intervention programs and organizations. The group discusses how survivors and people who cause harm are affected by oppression and how centering racial justice can create holistic interventions for people who cause harm.
Juan Carlos Areán from Futures Without Violence speaks with Jojopahmaria Nsoroma, the owner and steward of Higher Expectations Consulting Collaborative, and James Encinas, Spanish program facilitator and trainer at the Family Peace Initiative, about the importance of self-reflection in facilitating abusive partner intervention programs. The group explores the ways in which engaging in ongoing self-reflection is an essential part of a facilitator's work in order to create a model of accountability for facilitators and participants alike.
Kathryn Ford, the Center’s Director of Child Witness Initiatives, speaks with Geri Wisner, a prosecutor from Oklahoma, and Jennifer Thompson, a victim advocate and counselor from Georgia, about how they have been using the Office for Victims of Crime's Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials to inform and empower children as they interact with the justice system.
In 2015, Cook County, Ill., decided to create a program to specifically address domestic violence cases with issues involving children. The Child Relief Expediter Program provides a voluntary and confidential process to help parents with orders of protection, develop safe and effective visitation plans, and address other child-related issues. In this podcast, host Nida Abbasi, Cook County Judge Marina E. Ammendola, and Child Relief Expediter Stephanie Senuta describe the benefits of the program and provide tips for courts interested in doing more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on survivors of domestic violence. This document reflects on lessons learned from this difficult period and highlights innovative responses by courts that encountered tremendous challenges in providing access to critical services and forms of legal relief. In examining the ways in which courts adapted, new possibilities emerged for practices beyond the pandemic to safely and effectively expand access to justice in domestic violence cases.
Intimate partner violence poses a challenge to jurisdictions weighing the imperative of reducing pretrial detention against potential risks to survivors. Our study of practices across the country found few specialized pretrial alternatives in these cases. Our research brief highlights the handful of specialized practices we did uncover along with recommendations for new approaches. Five case studies and “Notes from the Field” add further context.
The Tucson City Domestic Violence Court is a high-volume criminal misdemeanor court. The Court specifically provides services and safety for Deaf victims of domestic violence through their partnership with Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse and the Community Outreach Program for the Deaf.
The Tulsa County Domestic Violence Court in Oklahoma is a criminal court model that handles misdemeanor and felony domestic violence cases and coordinates with family court in an urban setting. Learn from the court and stakeholder team about this specialized domestic violence court and how it tackles offender accountability, working collaboratively, and victim safety.
These guiding principles were created as part of the Abusive Partner Accountability and Engagement Training and Technical Assistance Project, an initiative funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. They are designed to inform abusive partner intervention programming (APIP), also known as battering intervention, at all stages of intervention—development, implementation, and evaluation. The goal of the principles is to enhance not only programs but also the broader community response to accountability and engagement for people who cause harm through intimate partner violence (IPV).
In this episode, Melanie Thompson is joined by Audrey Morrissey, associate director of My Life, My Choice Boston, to speak on their experiences of transitioning once a case has closed and the potential challenges and feelings that youth may experience. They also discuss resources to help with this transition, strategies for navigating relationships within systems, and the importance of providing youth with consistent and stable relationships.
