† Incidents other than domestic violence are reviewed because they may be indicators of escalating aggressiveness (Hanmer et al. 1999).
Each of the three levels to which a victim is assigned requires some follow-up. There is in an increase in the variety and intensity of safety measures used to protect the victim and to restrict the offender from rebattering if the offender’s violence and criminal history indicates he is at an increased risk to re-offend. Evaluations of graded approaches found reduced domestic violence calls and increased time intervals between violence. The methods to protect the victim or deter the offender can include a variety of situational crime prevention opportunity blocking mechanisms, such as the following:
†† With a victim’s permission, neighbors, relatives, friends, or all three are asked to look out for the victim and immediately call if the offender returns.
† To view the 25 techniques of situational crime prevention, see www.popcenter.org/25techniques/ in the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. Click on a particular technique to view its description.
Tailoring police responses to particular offenders based on the seriousness and frequency of their offenses has been successfully applied in the context of conventional crime and may be as useful for dealing with domestic batterers.†† This is likely because much domestic violence is committed by repeat and chronic offenders who may be particularly vulnerable because they often are under various forms of legal supervision due to past offending.
†† See Kennedy, Waring, and Piehl (2001) for a description of the pulling levers/focused deterrence application in the homicide context, and Spelman (1990) for a discussion of repeat offender programs. See Kennedy (2002) for a discussion of the application of the approach to domestic violence.
According to Buzawa and Buzawa, “The criminal justice system must develop the capabilities to identify those batterers for whom normal deterrence can be effective, perhaps the majority in terms of numbers 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 