Domestic Violence

A central goal of U.S. social welfare policy is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential as productive adults. Yet it is increasingly clear that where children live plays a central role in determining their life chances. This paper provides an overview of The Urban Institute's Program on Neighborhoods and Youth Development, which is dedicated to understanding the relationships between neighborhood-level factors and the well-being and development of children and youth and identifying and evaluating place-based, community-wide strategies to help children grow up to reach their full potential as adults.

This report investigates the relationship between alcohol availability, type of alcohol establishment, distribution policies and violence and disorder at the block group level in the District of Columbia. We test whether density of alcohol outlets influences: (1) aggravated assault incidents, (2) calls for service for social "disorder" offenses, and (3) calls for service for a domestic incident, and examine variation in outcomes by time of day/day of week. Spatial econometric regression models are estimated using an information theoretic approach. The findings indicate that on-premise outlets, but not off-premise outlets are a significant predictor of aggravated assault.

The Judicial Oversight Demonstration (JOD) was designed to test the feasibility and impact of a coordinated community response to intimate partner violence (IPV) that placed the courts and justice agencies in a central role. The Urban Institute conducted a detailed process and impact evaluation in three sites. The demonstration received mostly positive responses from justice system agencies, service providers, offenders, and victims. However, reductions in repeat violence did not occur in all sites. The mixed results indicate that the most effective justice system responses to IPV must include a focus on protecting victims, close monitoring of offenders, and rapid responses with penalties when violation of court-ordered conditions are detected.

In this commentary, senior research associate Laudan Aron explores the dark side of a booming business -- matching American men with foreign women -- and what should be done to protect "mail-order brides."

John Roman, a senior research associate in the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, explores the challenges interpreting increases in the FBI's crime statistics for 2005.

The Judicial Oversight Demonstration (JOD) in Milwaukee featured domestic violence courts, probation review hearings, expanded victim services, additional batterer intervention services, and enhanced probation supervision. This process evaluation documents and assesses program implementation for program planners and policy makers. The impact evaluation compares offender supervision, probationer compliance, and rearrest for domestic violence among samples of domestic violence offenders sentenced to probation before and during JOD. JOD was found to increase offender accountability at the cost of higher rates of probation revocation and subsequent incarceration.

This report summarizes major findings from our work on family violence for the United Way of Central New Mexico (UWCNM). "Family violence" includes violence between intimate partners (spouses, cohabiting couples, dating couples) and between adult family members and children. We identified the current availability of and significant gaps in services and supports for victims of family violence in the UWCNM service area. We were also alert to the opportunities to develop a coordinated community response to family violence that helps current victims and works to reduce and ultimately eliminate violence among family members. Based on these findings, and drawing on our knowledge of programs and approaches that work in other communities, the report presents suggestions and opportunities on which UWCNM and its community partners could act to achieve their goals.

With incarceration rates at record high levels, the criminal justice system now touches the lives of millions of American children each year, profoundly affecting childhood development, parenting patterns, social services delivery, foster care systems, and community norms. Prisoners Once Removed: The Impact of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities, a new Urban Institute Press book edited by Jeremy Travis and Michelle Waul, documents the consequences of imprisonment for individual prisoners, their families, and the communities to which these prisoners return and asks whether the corrections and health and human services systems can better serve this growing population. [View the corresponding book module]