Toward an international analysis of the justice system response to intimate partner violence

Abstract

The objective of this project is to obtain a clearer international picture of intimate partner violence and how intimate partner violence cases are processed through criminal justice systems.  The project will raise the research profile in intimate partner violence and the justice system response.

Research Team

Carmen Gill, University of New Brunswick (Principal Investigator)

Mary Hampton (Co-Investigator)

20 other Co-Investigators

Summary (C. Gill)

For more than 30 years, the criminal justice system in many countries has responded to lobbying efforts to assume a more pro-active and interventionist role in responding to intimate partner violence. This has resulted in a number of responses, including funding strategies and a variety of criminal law enforcement policies and legislations (Holder, 2006; Labriola, Rempel, O’Sullivan, & Frank, 2007; Ursel, 2002a). In spite of these efforts, the World Health Organization (2005) reports that the magnitude of intimate partner violence has remained the same and the task of producing reliable, comparative data to guide policy and monitor implementation has been difficult. While policy makers around the world are committed to reducing the devastating impact of intimate partner violence, the effects of these policies and practices must be analyzed and compared to identify promising practices. Overall, there is a need for an international and inter-jurisdictional analysis of the effectiveness of various justice system responses. 

In 2007, the Canadian observatory on the justice system’s response to intimate partner violence (the Observatory)[1] received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Strategic Knowledge Clusters program to establish a research network on the justice system response to intimate partner violence. The first research project of the Observatory is to lay the groundwork for the creation of standardized international data sets of justice data on courts, including specialized domestic violence courts, coordinated domestic violence service delivery, and police and prosecutors’ policies and procedures. It will involve an international team of researchers located in sites in Australia (Canberra, Wagga Wagga), Canada (Fredericton, Guelph, Winnipeg, and Calgary), the United Kingdom (London), and the United States (New York).

The objective of this one year research project is to obtain a clearer international picture of intimate partner violence and how intimate partner violence cases are processed through criminal justice systems. In this application, the justice system response to intimate partner violence refers to policies and practices to address cases when individuals enter the justice system. The justice system refers to law enforcement, courts and coordinated service delivery, including victim services and programs for abusers. To achieve its objective, this international research team will pilot a standardized framework for the collection of data on the justice system response. The team will analyze the data collection process paying particular attention to the feasibility of adopting common systems of data collection on the justice system for international comparisons (Cousineau & Rondeau, 2004).

Intimate partner violence is a global issue. This proposal is timely especially amid international attention to the issue of developing international research and comparable global measures on intimate partner violence (Saltzman, 2004). This project will enable an international collaboration among researchers and practitioners to move toward an international analysis of the justice system response to intimate partner violence. Canadian researchers will gain insight into the complexities and challenges of justice system processes, bringing the knowledge arising from this international collaboration to affect quality justice and effective practice in Canada and other countries. This project will enable this international research team to look at what level of standardization is needed to reliably make international comparisons. It will also secure the participation of Canadian researchers in international networks of scholars who are collecting data on the justice system response to intimate partner violence. Overall, the project will raise the research profile on intimate partner violence and the justice system response.