Domestic Violence Courts

Since the 1990s, a variety of legal responses to domestic violence have been adopted, including mandatory arrest policies and specialized prosecution units. Simultaneously, victim advocates have developed shelters and supportive programs for victims and children, and worked with other partners to create community interventions with the dual goals of protecting victims and decreasing abuse by perpetrators of domestic violence, such as batterer intervention programs.

Specialized domestic violence courts were informed by such reforms in the legal and advocacy communities as well as a broader problem-solving court movement, such as drug, mental health, community, and reentry courts. Although each problem-solving model has distinct goals and elements, some propose that these models are unified by an overarching shift in focus from the legal process exclusively to more substantive ...