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Specialized domestic violence courts are designed to improve victim safety and enhance defendant accountability. They emerged as a problem-solving court in the 1980s and 1990s in response to frustration among victim advocates, judges and attorneys who saw the same litigants cycling through the justice system again and again. ==Background on domestic violence== The FBI estimates that a domestic violence crime is committed at a rate of once every fifteen seconds.〔N.Y. STATE OFFICE FOR THE PREVENTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DATA SHEET (2001).〕 According to conservative estimates, one million women are battered by an intimate partner annually.〔Judith S. Kaye and Susan K. Knipps, Judicial Responses to Domestic Violence: The Case for a Problem Solving Approach, 27 W. ST. U.L. REV. 3 (1999-2000).〕 These numbers and the efforts of domestic violence advocates have led, over the last 20 years, to changes in the criminal justice response to such offenses. Some of the greatest changes occurred in the 1990s, with the passage of the federal Violence Against Women Act. This increased attention to domestic violence resulted in, among other things, the passage of mandatory arrest laws, an increase in funding for services for victims, and the creation of special domestic violence prosecution and police units. At the same time, there was a parallel movement taking place within state court systems as judges and attorneys began to search for new tools, strategies, and new technologies that could help them address difficult cases where social, human, and legal problems collide.〔For more on how courts have responded to domestic violence, see(【引用サイトリンク】title=BRIDGING THEORY AND PRACTICE: A ROUNDTABLE ON COURT RESPONSES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE )〕 New York’s chief judge, Judith S. Kaye, articulated, with co-author Judge Susan Knipps, the thinking behind the development of domestic violence courts in an essay published in Western State University Law Review: “One possible judicial response to the current situation is to continue to process domestic violence cases as any other kind of case, and to continue to observe systemic failures. Another response, however—the problem solving response—is to try to design court programs that explicitly take into account the special characteristics that domestic violence cases present. If domestic violence defendants present a particular risk of future violence, then why not enhance monitoring efforts to deter such actions? If victims remain in abusive situations due to fear for their own and their children’s well being, then why not provide links to services and safety planning that may expand the choices available to them? If cases are slipping between the cracks of a fragmented criminal justice system, then why not work together to improve coordination and consistency?” 〔Judith S. Kaye and Susan K. Knipps, Judicial Responses to Domestic Violence: The Case for a Problem Solving Approach, 27 W. ST. U.L. REV. 3 (1999-2000).〕 Today, there are nearly 300 courts nationwide that have special processing mechanisms for domestic violence cases.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Specialization of Domestic Violence Case Management in the Courts: A National Survey )〕 Three sites were the subject of a study by the Vera Institute of Justice: Milwaukee County, Wisconsin; Washtenaw County, Michigan; and Dorchester District in Boston, Massachusetts. Starting in 1999, judges and attorneys, advocates for women and batterer intervention specialists, probation officers, police, and others in those jurisdictions banded together in an ambitious effort to improve criminal justice and community responses to domestic violence. The three sites were selected to participate in the Judicial Oversight Demonstration Initiative—a national demonstration project funded by the (U.S. Department of Justice )’s (Office on Violence Against Women )—have spent the past five years working to enhance victim safety and the oversight of offenders in their communities.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=ENHANCING RESPONSES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROMISING PRACTICES FROM THE JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT DEMONSTRATION INITIATIVE )〕 The Center for Court Innovation is funded by the Office on Violence Against Women to provide technical assistance to courts interested in developing or enhancing their domestic violence programs. The Center for Court Innovation also has a grant from the National Institute of Justice to document the number and types of domestic violence courts in the U.S. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Domestic violence court」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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