Does a Coordinated Program Between the Police and Prosecution Services Matter? The Impacts on Satisfaction and Safety of Domestic Violence Victims

• Published date: 01 June 2021
• Date: 01 June 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0887403420920331
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403420920331

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2021, Vol. 32(4) 331 –351

© The Author(s) 2020

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0887403420920331

journals.sagepub.com/home/cjp

Article

Does a Coordinated Program

Between the Police and

Prosecution Services Matter?

The Impacts on Satisfaction

and Safety of Domestic

Violence Victims

Jorge Quintas1 and Pedro Sousa1

Abstract

Domestic violence–specialized programs have been created by the police or the criminal

justice system with the intention of improving victims’ protection. This article examines the

impact of the first Portuguese coordinated program, involving a specialized prosecution

team and a special police unit, the experience of victims in encountering with authorities,

and the fulfillment of their expectations on victims’ satisfaction and safety. Data were

collected through a telephone survey, using a two-group quasi-experimental design, at

two waves (3 and 12 months after the crime report). Victims from the experimental

group are more satisfied and reveal a better sense of safety. However, it is only in the

second variable that the program has a direct effect on multivariate analysis. Satisfaction

mainly comes from the authorities’ demeanor and the expectation fulfillment while it is

the authorities’ behavior and the expectation fulfillment that grounds safety.

Keywords

domestic violence, expectancy disconfirmation model, victims’ satisfaction, victims’

safety, domestic violence–coordinated program

Introduction

Domestic violence (DV) has become a serious problem that has been getting an increas-

ing political and social attention. Opposing to the traditional idea of considering DV as

1University of Porto, Portugal

Corresponding Author:

Jorge Quintas, CJS—Interdisciplinary Research Center on Crime, Justice and Security, School of

Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of Porto, Rua dos Bragas, 223, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal.

Email: joliveira@direito.up.pt

920331CJPXXX10.1177/0887403420920331Criminal Justice Policy ReviewQuintas and Sousa

research-article2020

332 Criminal Justice Policy Review 32(4)

a private matter, a growing social censorship has favored the adoption of victim’s pro-

tection policies and legislative changes toward a progressive criminalization, especially

in Western countries (Belknap & Grant, 2018; Buzawa & Buzawa, 2003; Dobash &

Dobash, 1979; Fagan, 1996). Violent acts that occur in the domestic domain are cur-

rently defined as crimes, despite variations among legal systems. As a result, police and

agencies of the criminal justice system play a legitimate and crucial role in the protec-

tion of the victim as well as in the detection, punishment, and supervision of offenders

(e.g., Aldarondo, 2010). However, law enforcement has repeatedly been criticized,

especially by organized social groups (e.g., women’s organizations, victim support

associations), for being unresponsive or lenient, for uncaring the victim, or even for

exonerating offender’s violent acts (Belknap, 1990; Johnson, 2007; Walklate, 2007). In

reaction to these criticisms and as a part of a broader movement of specialization in the

police and in the judicial system (Cissner et al., 2015), during the last decades, multiple

DV-specialized programs have been created, mainly in North America, Western Europe,

and other developed countries.

Specialized law enforcement DV programs are currently available in the police,

prosecution services, and courts. For instance, in the United States, at the end of the

20th century, about half of the local police stations had DV special units (Townsend

et al., 2005), and there were more than 200 courts with specialized structures and prac-

tices directed to DV, some of them recognized as DV courts (Cissner et al., 2015;

Friday et al., 2006; Karan et al., 1999). In England and Wales, following a Home

Office circular, several police forces introduced DV Units (Farrell & Buckley, 1999)

and more than 100 Special DV courts have also been set up to implement rapid and

effective responses (Bowen et al., 2014; Robinson & Cook, 2006). Other police and

prosecutorial initiatives, such as the Independent DV Advisers (Taylor, 2013), were

implemented across both countries as well. Furthermore, the United Nations itself

recommends that laws should provide for “the establishment of specialized courts

where a special judicial procedure ensures that cases of violence against women are

examined quickly and effectively” (United Nations, 2010).

In general, although specialized programs can be initiated by the police or justice

system agencies, its implementation requires the collaboration of other institutions,

which necessarily implies an increased coordination effort. Even though specialized

police units for DV may have different structures (Exum et al., 2010; Friday et al.,

2006), they generally comprise teams of agents specially trained for direct victim sup-

port (e.g., repeated contacts) and for an intensive criminal investigation adjusted to

this type of crimes. They have multiple tasks, including personalized care of the vic-

tim, risk assessment, monitoring of protection plans, supervision of protection orders,

and criminal investigation. These specialized units usually sought to improve their

close collaboration with justice system agencies, victim support services, social ser-

vices and health services, and to take advantage of several communitarian networks.

Criminal justice system agencies specialized in DV often include magistrates (judges

and prosecutors), specially trained for these offenses, that follow distinct procedural

practices. Specialized prosecution services and courts need to be strongly linked with

the police and communitarian services in a multiagency approach, which includes