ADFVC issues paper, 2005, no. 10

Hosted on this website with permision (18/5/2016).

This Australian paper outlines the theoretical and other issues identified in the literature which have informed the establishment of domestic violence courts, and describes the development of domestic violence courts in Australia. The author stresses that the genesis of specialist domestic violence courts is based in observance of the rights, needs and interests of victims of domestic violence to be safe and free of further violence, intimidation and harassment. The origin of specialist domestic violence courts is described and put in the context of the numerous inadequacies (described in the paper) of mainstream criminal justice processes for dealing with domestic violence with the interests and safety of victims as the central focus. The various models of specialist domestic violence courts are described. These have in common a stated focus on the safety and interests of victims, and the goals of improving the police response to domestic violence in order to bring matters before the courts and to increase prosecution rates and guilty pleas. The research shows that the benefits of specialist domestic violence courts are in the strength of the process of integrating service and legal responses to domestic violence. The author concludes that there would be great value in the establishment of appropriately resourced specialist domestic violence courts. The key to the successful operation of specialist domestic violence courts is the development of carefully researched and negotiated protocols and procedures, including processes for court case tracking and case management hearings. There are also major challenges in upgrading police practice in domestic violence cases to significantly higher quality of intervention and investigation, and in sustaining these major changes over time. External independent evaluation of the program is critical. The author also identifies a risk that the movement to set up specialist domestic violence courts might be derailed by the doctrine of 'therapeutic jurisprudence', with its focus on the well-being and healing of offenders. It is noted that there is scant research on recidivism by domestic violence offenders and what prevents domestic violence, with the benefits of prevention of reoffending yet to be measured; however, the cost of domestic violence to Australia in 2002- 2003 was .1 billion. The author notes that caution needs to be taken in the development and implementation of specialist domestic violence courts in Australia to avoid any perception of a softening of the legal response to perpetrators of domestic violence.

au