Court watch programs typically send volunteers to observe courts in action. In this way, they try to assess what is working and where improvements in the court's response to domestic violence and sexual assault are needed. Unfortunately, court watch programs have had varying degrees of success in changing practice. This guide addresses challenges court watch programs face and offers recommendations to make them more effective.
This webinar addresses recent convenings and collaborations between domestic violence/sexual assault advocacy organizations and black women clergy and will share strategies to center the experiences of black women exposed to gender-based violence and impacted by criminalization.
Creating a specialized domestic violence court can be daunting for any community. It requires careful planning, leadership, and the buy-in of partners. The Tulalip Tribes of Washington are tackling the issue of domestic violence head-on, spearheading an initiative to create a specialized court, one of the first in a tribal justice system. This outline of their planning process highlights the steps involved and serves as a useful guide for tribes seeking to strengthen their court’s response to domestic violence.
Dating violence among teens presents unique challenges to fashioning effective juvenile justice-system interventions. This report captures conversation from a cross-disciplinary roundtable exploring what diversion means for this population and where—and whether—it should occur. Participants identified the unique needs of youth, possible means of intervention, and recommendations for further exploration.
In this podcast, which was produced as part of Project SAFE, Afua Addo is joined by Dr. Monique Morris, the co-founder and president of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, and Andrea C. James, the founder and executive director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.
Having a strong judicial leader can make or break a specialized domestic violence court. A judge can marshal resources and rally community and stakeholder partners to achieve shared goals. So what happens to specialized domestic violence courts when that integral judge transitions to a new position or retires? Use this fact sheet to ensure your court has a plan in place for a smooth and successful transition.
Just because smaller communities generally have fewer resources doesn’t mean they aren’t innovating or taking new approaches that others can learn from and emulate. In Pulaski County, Virginia, home to about 35,000 people, Judge H. Lee Chitwood and Court Coordinator Jaime Clemmer have implemented a number of changes to better address domestic violence.
In this podcast, which was produced as part of Project SAFE, Afua Addo is joined by Farah Tanis, co-founder and executive director of Black Women’s Blueprint. Tanis discusses the creation of the Blueprint and highlights its work organizing with black women on issues that impact their daily lives. She points to the high rate of domestic violence and sexual assault and exploitation confronting black women and the importance of continued advocacy for criminalized and incarcerated black women.
For survivors of domestic violence, financial insecurity is often a huge problem. Without money to support themselves and their families, survivors can struggle to gain independence. In this New Thinking podcast, Michael Hayes from the Office of Child Support Enforcement and Krista Del Gallo from the Texas Council on Family Violence talk with Robert V. Wolf about strategies that states and the federal government are promoting to help survivors safely access child support.
In this podcast, which was produced as part of Project SAFE, Afua Addo speaks with the Rev. Dr. Cheryl F. Dudley, the regional executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York.