The Combined Effects of Coordinated Criminal Justice Intervention in Woman Abuse

During the past 2 decades, the criminal justice system has significantly changed its response to battered women and their assailants. These changes are, in part, being encouraged by newly established community intervention projects (CIPs) across the United States. This study reports the findings of victim interviews and archival data concerning incidents of woman abuse that came to the attention of the Minneapolis police and were referred to a CIP. The results for samples monitored over a 6- to 12-month period tend to support the use of arrest on first police visits to the home and subsequent action by the courts that includes ordering perpetrators into treatment.