Understanding Violence Against Women (1996) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
4 Prevention and Intervention
4 Prevention and Intervention
Pages 93-142
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 93... ...
Universal preventive measures are desirable for everyone in a population; selected preventive measures are desirable for those in the population with an above average 93
|
From page 94... ...
use of preventive interventions, but considers treatment and maintenance interventions together uncler the rubric of treatment interventions. Treatment interventions are separated into individual and community-level interventions: individual treatment interventions are those, such as counseling, that are targeted at the individual; community-lever interventions represent more system-oriented interventions, such as criminal justice reforms, rape crisis centers, and battered women shelters.
|
From page 95... ...
In Minnesota, the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women developed a secondary school violence prevention program and trained secondary school teachers in the use of the curriculum. The approximately 200 teachers who were willing to participate in the evaluation were stratified by junior or senior high, and by rural, suburban, or urban location.
|
From page 96... ...
The experimental group of 196 students were tested before and after the five-cIass program, and there was a control group of students whose health classes did not include the dating violence prevention program. While all of these programs may change knowledge or attitudes about physical and sexual violence between intimates, no longitudinal studies exist to document whether they have any short- or long-term impact on the commission of dating violence, date rape, or intimate partner violence later in life.
|
From page 97... ...
Deterrence To the extent that the threat of criminal justice sanctions deters people from engaging in violent behavior, they can be thought of as preventive interventions. The theory of deterrence is well established in the field of criminal justice For reviews, see Zimring and Hawkins, 1971; Geerken and Gove, 1975; Gibbs, 1975; Cook, 1977; Blumstein et al., 1978; Tittle, ~ 980; Paternoster, 1987; Klepper and Nagin, ~ 989~.
|
From page 98... ...
Other Issues in Rape Prevention The literature on rape prevention includes strategies for rape avoidance and rape resistance, which are considered by some particularly in the criminal justice field to be prevention through reduction of opportunity. Rape avoidance entails strategies to be used by women to minimize their risk of sexual assault.
|
From page 99... ...
This report does not consider rape avoidance or rape resistance to be preventive interventions, the goal of which should be reduction in rates of perpetration. Some researchers also consider rape prevention to mean minimizing the psychological impact of sexual assault; this report considers that topic under interventions for victims, not as prevention.
|
From page 100... ...
Mental health interventions with rape victims have received more study than those with battered women. Treatment approaches designed to address the postrape psychological consequences have been developed, and in some instances evaluations were undertaken to assess their effectiveness.
|
From page 101... ...
Community-Leve} Interventions Crisis-Oriented Services: Shelters, Rape Crisis Centers, and Advocacy A recent survey ~Plichta, 1995) found 1,800 programs, of which approximately 1,200 were shelters, targeted at battered women in the United States.
|
From page 102... ...
For example, in one study O'Sullivan et al., 1995~76 percent of the sample were on public assistance; another ~ percent hacT no income whatsoever. In another large sample of women using services in Texas ~l,482 battered women in shelters and 650 battered women using nonresident shelter-based programs)
|
From page 103... ...
Since such characteristics as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and educational level of all the women in a region who may need shelter services are not known, it cannot be determined if the shelter populations are representative of the battered women in an area. Race and ethnic origin may be important factors in assessing the needs of women who use shelter services and in understandin~ barriers that may exist to obtaining services.
|
From page 104... ...
Recruiting samples of battered women to study can be quite difficult. Most of the studies have taken samples from women who seek help at a shelter or other service For example, the courts)
|
From page 105... ...
It is obviously easier and less expensive to use planned living arrangement as an outcome measure than to try to follow a large sample of women over time to determine their actual living arrangements or the actual level of violence in their relationships. And it is true that planning to leave may be an important step in ending a violent relationship, whether or not the woman actually leaves after any given shelter stay.
|
From page 106... ...
The sample in this study consisted of 155 battered women in Santa Barbara County, California, drawn from women who went either to the local shelter or whose cases were referred to the county prosecutor's office. Statistical adjustments were made to compensate for the nonrandom assignment to experimental Shelter stay)
|
From page 107... ...
Using a pre- and post-quasi-experimental quantitative design, supplemented by in-depth interviews, Tutty ~1995~ assessed social support/isolation, stress/coping, and self-esteem of women who used shelter follow-up programs designed to assist women who had decided to live independently. Social workers from the programs visited women in their homes for T-2 hours per week to provide counseling and advocacy services.
|
From page 108... ...
Given that virtually all rape victims experience initial clistress and that the purpose of intervention is to alleviate that distress with a supportive response, it is not reasonable to impose such an expectation. However, the characteristics of programs perceived as highly effective by their communities and by experts in the sexual assault field have been described ~Harvey, 1985~.
|
From page 109... ...
However, aspects of the criminal justice system can be thought of as interventions for victims. Victims of sexual assault and intimate partner violence often face barriers that keep them from making use of the criminal justice system.
|
From page 110... ...
The degree to which arrest or protective orders do or do not improve battered women's safety has yet to be resolved. The research on arrest is discussed in more detail in the section on interventions with offenders.
|
From page 111... ...
women, Gonclolf and Fisher ~1988) studied a sample of 1,482 battered women in shelters and 650 battered women using nonresident sheTter-based programs in Texas.
|
From page 112... ...
Table 4. ~ details the services sought and received by these battered women.
|
From page 113... ...
Yet these services for rape victims are often not used, even though at least some of these victims continue to suffer from rape-related effects and the available treatment could be helpful. It would be important to unclerstand the barriers and facilitators to seeking the current array of crisis intervention, advocacy, and treatment services, and determine whether there are other types of services
|
From page 114... ...
In New York City, it is estimated that less than 2 percent of all battered women go through the shelter system, which is the entry point for many services {Friedman, 19951. There is some evidence to suggest that women who seek shelter services experience more frequent victimization than nonservice seekers.
|
From page 115... ...
The impact on the rate of battering or sexual assault at the community level remains unknown. Tn discussing criminal ius tice responses it must be remembered that there really IS not · 1 ~ · 1 · , · ~ _ : ` 1~ ~ T T_: ~ ~ C ~ ~ ~ Am I a single criminal Justice system lI1111~ UlilL=U my; 1~11~1 there are at least 51 models, determined by state and federal laws, and numerous other practices associated with local jurisdictions.
|
From page 116... ...
The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment pioneered] the use of randomized designs to compare the consequences of arrest to alternative police actions {Sherman and Berk, 1984~.
|
From page 117... ...
When victims are pleased with police response, they may be more likely to report repeat violence Davis and TaYlor 19951.
|
From page 118... ...
African American men are more likely than white men to be arrested coachman and Coker, 19951. Prosecution In jurisdictions that have not paid special attention to or were apparently not concerned about domestic violence, prosecution rates of battering cases typically have been Tow {Ford, 1983; Dutton, 19881.
|
From page 119... ...
Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence, ~ 984; Goolkasian, 1986; Lerman, 1986~. Foremost among recommended policies is a "no-drop" policy, promoted as making it impossible for a defendant to pressure a victim to drop charges, thereby possibly protecting the victim from coercive violence Sherman, 1981 i.
|
From page 120... ...
~1993~ found that protective orders in Denver and BouIcler were effective for at least a year in preventing violence against the
|
From page 121... ...
In response to Tow rates of prosecution for batterers, some jurisdictions have created special courts to deal with cases involving intimate partner violence. Although no evaluations have been completed on the effects of such courts, the Dade County jFloridaJ Domestic Violence Court is currently being evaluated using an experimental design to see if legal sanctions are more likely and more severe under this system and if victims and their children are safer (Fagan, 1996J.
|
From page 122... ...
Of particular concern is the effect of courtmandated treatment on reducing violent behavior. A few studies have found Tower recidivism {as measured by repeat arrests)
|
From page 123... ...
Community intervention projects have been the most evaluated of the various models. These pro jects involve a grassroots organization that sets up procedures with the local criminal justice agencies to establish and monitor policies related to battering, to be informed of batterers' arrests so that advocates can be provided to the battered woman to help her navigate the legal system and locate services for herself and her children, and to provide information on batterers' treatment options to the arrested man; see Brygger and Edleson ~1987~ for a full description of a coordinated intervention project.
|
From page 124... ...
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 includes clemonstration grants for coordinating domestic violence programs with the criminal justice system, the social service system, the health care and mental health systems, the education community, the religious community, the business community, and other pertinent community groups and activities. Sex Offenders Rape Statute Reform While much of the effort in criminal justice surrounding [batterers concerned laetter enforcement of existing laws, for rape much of the effort was (Erected at reforming the rape laws.
|
From page 125... ...
Beginning in the mid-1970s and continuing throughout the 19SOs, most states changed their rape laws in a number of ways, including: definition of acts included; gradation of offenses; focus on behavior of offender rather than consent of victim; inclusion of rape shield provisions; elimination of witness corroboration; elimination of prompt reporting; elimination of cautionary instructions; and elimination of marital exclusion. Most states moved to a gencler-neutral definition of rape that includes vaginal, anal, ant!
|
From page 126... ...
Feminist reformers pushed hard for rape shield provisions that would disallow grilling victims about their sexual history. Rape shield laws have been enacted in every state except Utah [Epstein and Langenbahn, 1994)
|
From page 127... ...
in most states. Although national rates of reporting of sexual assaults increasecT between 1970 anc!
|
From page 128... ...
Twenty-six percent of the rapes and sexual assaults reported on the 1992-1993 National Crime Victimization Survey ~Bachman and Saltzman, 1995) were committe(1 lay an intimate I.e., husband, ax-husband, boyfriend, or ex-l~oyfriend)
|
From page 129... ...
Another aspect of implementing legal sanctions for sexual assault that has received some research attention is the effect of race of both the victim and the offender. LaFree ~1989~ noted that virtually all research done prior to 1970 found that black defendants receive more serious official sanctions than white defendants, while most research conducted after ~ 970 found little evidence of discrimination.
|
From page 130... ...
Because these laws have so recently been passed, there has not yet been an opportunity to stu(ly whether they will make victims of stalking safer or not. TREATMENT INTERVENTIONS Intervening with batterers in orcler to change their behavior emerged as a reaction to frustration among shelter workers who saw women revictimized after returning home to an unchanged male partner or saw the batterer move on to a new victim.
|
From page 131... ...
Dearly all slate t;~(;~'~ ~y~ USA ~l owe '1~ crypt of counseling or treatment for incarcerated sex offenders, and 19 states have separate facilities for at least some sex offenders jMaguire and Pastore, 1995J. Treatments include insightoriented, cognitive-behavioral, behavioral modification, and pharmacological therapies ~Prentky, ~ 990J.
|
From page 132... ...
Because of these many methodological shortcomings and differences, some analysts have concluded that there is little that one can conclude about the effectiveness of these treatment programs tHamberger ant! Hastings, 1993~.
|
From page 133... ...
Little research has been done on the effectiveness of couples therapy in ending violent behavior. Several studies of couples counseling found a reduction or cessation of violence in a sizable proportion of the sample following couples counseling ~Taylor, ~ 984; Neidig et al., 1985; Deschner et al., 1986.
|
From page 134... ...
However, participants were four times more likely to drop out of individual couples counseling than the group program. Although there is some evidence that couples therapy may be effective in reducing violence, philosophical disagreements about its use are bound to continue.
|
From page 135... ...
But there are moral and ethical constraints as well as community objections- to withholding treatment from known sex offenders that argue against trying to achieve this standard of scientific rigor. Marshall ~1993)
|
From page 136... ...
Should services for battered women consider improve~nent in self-esteem, separation from the batterer, or physical safety as the outcome? Should treatment of rapists measure sexual arousal or behavior outside the laboratory as an outcome?
|
From page 137... ...
It is possible that sexual and intimate partner violence have common precursors with other forms of violent and dysfunctional or undesirable behavior. Except for the few prevention programs targeted at preventing dating violence, most youth violence prevention programs have ignored the prevention of intimate
|
From page 138... ...
Recommendation: Programs designed to prevent sexual and intimate partner violence should be subject to rigorous evaluation of both short- and long-term effects. Programs designed to prevent delinquency, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, gang involvement, or general violence (including conflict mediation programs)
|
From page 139... ...
These studies should describe and evaluate innovative or alternative approaches or settings for identifying and providing services to victims of violence against women. Interventions with Offenders Interventions with sex offenders and batterers consist of a criminal justice response or specialized social service treatment programs for certain offenders, or both.
|
From page 140... ...
Legal reforms have been proposed and implemented to treat sexual assault and intimate partner violence similarly to other crimes, but little is known about how these reforms have affected actual practices or what differences, if any, they have made for victims. For example, many changes have been made in rape laws and rape trial procedures, but little is known about the impact of those changes on investigation, prosecutorial decision making, or jury behavior.
|
From page 141... ...
The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration GLEAM funded local criminal justice initiatives on behalf of victims during the 1970s. LEAA established a Family Violence Program to fund demonstration and evaluation programs in 1978 See Fagan et al., 1984~.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.