 of incidents… [i]t should also be able to differentiate, segregate, and incapacitate batterers who must be deterred by special approaches.”
† The Lancashire (United Kingdom) Police Constabulary placed messages about domestic violence on police vehicles, beer glass coasters in bars, utility bills, and lampposts, and used radio advertising to increase awareness of domestic violence.
As a rule, prevention is more likely to work if highly targeted. General campaigns are not typically effective. Highly targeted campaigns that focus on a specific target group or geographic area can have some impact. Offender-oriented campaigns, which are designed to raise potential offenders’ perceptions that there will be meaningful consequences to battering, are more likely to be effective than campaigns that appeal to potential offenders’ morals.†
† For more in-depth information about prevention campaigns and the conditions under which they are most likely to be effective, see Response Guide No. 5, Crime Prevention Publicity Campaigns.
Prevention efforts targeting potential victims should focus on those at higher risk, such as young women ages 16 to 24, as they experience the highest rates of intimate violence. Special efforts should be made to reach the poorest women in this age group as they are at an even higher risk. In addition, some recent immigrant communities, depending on the laws and privileges in the home country, may show a high level of domestic abuse, particularly if there is a lack of familiarity with assault laws in the adopted country.† One of the reasons crime prevention campaigns have had limited success is that potential victims do not see themselves as such; victim-oriented prevention campaigns must overcome this threshold issue. ††
† For a review of the research pertaining to domestic violence and immigrant populations, see Buzawa and Buzawa (2003).
† The study, which examined felony and misdemeanor violence, male and female offenders, and couples in different types of relationships, tracked victims for three years.
† The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists all endorse screening.
†† See Isaac and Enos (2001) for guidelines for proper medical documentation of battered patients.
In spite of these professional recommendations, most physicians are reluctant to routinely screen women for domestic violence, citing a lack of training in how to conduct screenings and insufficient knowledge of appropriate responses and referrals when a patient discloses domestic violence.
The first shelter for battered women and their children opened in London in 1972. There are currently more than 2,000 shelters in the United States. In most communities, shelters raise community funds for operation; in some communities, police contribute a portion of their budget to aid in shelter operation. Shelters often rely on volunteers and a few paid personnel to provide round-the-clock assistance to battered women and their families. Little is known about the number of repeat victims served annually, the length of average stays, or the effectiveness of shelter services in preventing subsequent violence.
Although there are confidentiality issues to resolve or respect, police should seek to exchange information with domestic violence victim service providers as much as possible to learn more about the domestic violence victim population, some of whom do not seek out police assistance. This information exchange can aid in identifying the highest risk victims and offenders, targeting prevention efforts, designing safety plans, and learning more about the community’s offenders.
† More than 60 U.S. law schools offer student advocacy services for domestic violence victims at court proceedings (Roberts, 2002b).
Recently emerging are family justice centers, which house domestic violence victim services in one location to increase victim survival, independence, and recovery. Formerly, victim services were scattered in different places, sometimes at opposite ends of cities. 