Stopping Domestic Violence How a Community Can Prevent Spousal Abuse

In the field of domestic violence, community collaboration has been an essential part of both prevention and intervention. However, there have been vast differences in perspective, methodology, understanding, interpretations, and concerns among the various partners. This volume examines models of collaboration between personnel in social service agencies, women's centers, domestic violence programs, medical and mental health settings, and law enforcement. Techniques are detailed that allow knowledge about domestic violence and primary prevention to be integrated into a community response by all those involved.

Further, the authors describe in detail how the possibilities for communities to respond to domestic violence victims is based on how these various groups perceive the victim; how an individual agency personally responds and how it is possible to provide safety for women in their own homes and communities.

Stopping Domestic Violence: How a Community Can Prevent Spousal Abuse is an excellent resource for educators, social workers, public health professionals, clinicians, medical and mental health professionals, and law enforcement personnel.

1 Domestic Violence: The Players.- The Setting.- Primary Prevention and Domestic Violence.- Linking Primary Prevention to Community Settings.- Opportunities for Prevention.- Overview.- 2 Cops and the Community.- The Story of Policing in the United States.- History of Law Fnforcement Involvement in Domestic Violence.- Police Function and Role.- The Tension between Police Administration and Line Officers.- The Police and Public Scrutiny.- 3 Domestic Violence, Perception, and Decision-Making.- Perception.- How Players Make Decisions.- Unintended Outcomes.- Opportunities for Prevention: Beyond Arrest.- 4 Why Does Domestic Violence Happen?.- History.- Theoretical Explanations.- Biological Explanations.- Psychological and Social Psychological Explanations.- Sociological Models.- Feminist Models.- New Trends in Theory.- 5 What Do We Know about Domestic Violence?.- Identification.- What Happens in an Abusive Relationship?.- The Patterns of Violence and Abuse.- Demographics: Who Gets Hit? Who Are the Victims of Abuse?.- How Does the Victim Respond?.- Battered Women and Their Strategies to Escape, Avoid, and Survive Abuse.- 6 When Victims Ask for Help.- The Response of Helping Professions.- Prevention, Advocacy, and Safety Planning.- The Police Response.- Interview.- Assessment.- Documentation.- Victim Safety and Advocacy.- 7 Prevention and the Community: Where Do We Go from Here?.- Traditional Crime Prevention Efforts.- The Prevention Model.- Research as Mediation between Prevention Models.- Appendix A Victim’s Safety Plan.- Appendix B Suggested Readings.- References.- Author Index.