Family violence: a report on the state of the research.

• Author: Lederman, Cindy S.

This column summarizes the legal interventions discussed in Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs.

Every day family law judges make many important and difficult decisions that affect the lives of the people who appear before them in family violence-related cases. These decisions are often made quickly based on the evidence presented in court, and on the applicable law, but are often made without the benefit of research-based knowledge about family violence. Just as important decisions about people's lives are made daily in courts dealing with family violence cases, the academic community also is engaged daily in the study of human behavior and interventions designed to modify behavior relative to families involved in family violence. This academic work can and should be used to inform the decisions of the court's dealing with family violence, as its use has only enhanced the exercise of therapeutic jurisprudence to date, and as the body of research evolves, it will continue to point the way to other effective solutions.

A tremendous gap exists between those who conduct research and the judges and lawyers who deal directly with family violence. Family violence justice stakeholders often are not exposed to research findings in their decisionmaking and rarely understand the necessity of contributing to the body of evaluative research. The crisis-driven nature of the justice system primarily results in a form of decisionmaking that results in after-the-fact and isolated interventions, rather than comprehensive approaches or broad-based initiatives.

If those of us involved in the daily decision-making process in courts dealing with family violence would use social science to inform our work, the effectiveness of our decisions would only be enhanced. Social science research may be particularly helpful in assisting the courts with decisionmaking relative to family violence, as the social dynamics these courts are resolving are exceptionally complex and only when large samples of cases are reviewed do positive solutions reveal themselves. This article is an effort to summarize the current state of the research relative to legal interventions in the area of family violence, and make that knowledge accessible to judges and lawyers who can then integrate that knowledge into their policymaking and decisionmaking.

In August of 1994, the National Research Council (NRC), a branch of the National Academy of Sciences,[1] convened a committee of 21 family violence experts, the Committee on the Assessment of Family Violence Interventions ("the committee"), to engage in a three-year effort to synthesize the existing body of research knowledge regarding the development, implementation, and effectiveness of interventions designed to treat and prevent family violence. Ultimately, in 1998, the committee's work resulted in publication of a comprehensive report on the existing state of research-based knowledge on family violence entitled Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs[2] (hereinafter Violence in Families). This report, though rarely used by those in the justice system, provides important knowledge about the field of family violence that can and should inform the work of lawyers and judges dealing with cases involving domestic violence and child maltreatment.

The committee defined family violence as adult domestic violence, child abuse or neglect (hereinafter "maltreatment"), and elder abuse, and found that the rates of family violence in this country constitute a serious social problem. It is widely believed that approximately three million children each year are reported victims of child maltreatment, and that as many as almost three million adults are victims of violence or abuse from family members.[3] In the juvenile justice system, family violence issues are addressed in court every day. Given the potential lethality involved in these cases, it is incumbent upon those of us in the legal system to engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue with researchers to develop interventions that will more effectively curb the violence and meet the needs of the affected children and families.

The role of social science and the work of the juvenile and family courts go hand in hand. Though data are limited and research is difficult to conduct in the court, the science available and summarized in Violence in Families has yielded important information in the areas of child maltreatment interventions, including mandatory reporting; court-mandated treatment of sex offenders and other child maltreatment offenders; and alternatives to the live testimony of children in court. Likewise, Violence in Families has resulted in important interventions in the area of adult family violence, including civil orders for protection, arrest policies, batterers treatment, and mandatory prosecution policies. These results are summarized in greater detail below with the goal of educating courts such that implementation of the results can be achieved.

Child Abuse or Neglect Interventions

Mandatory reporting. With regard to child abuse or neglect, the NRC...