Evaluation of a police and social services domestic violence program: empirical evidence needed to inform public health policies
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Arlene G. Seid; Sandy Liles; Melbourne F. Hovell
- Source
- Violence against women. 12(2)
- Subject
- Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Domestic Violence
Social Work
Sociology and Political Science
Psychological intervention
Poison control
Pilot Projects
Public Policy
Suicide prevention
Occupational safety and health
Gender Studies
medicine
Confidence Intervals
Odds Ratio
Humans
Mass Screening
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Prospective Studies
Psychiatry
Mass screening
Recidivism
Public health
050901 criminology
05 social sciences
Mandatory Reporting
medicine.disease
Community-Institutional Relations
Police
Domestic violence
Female
Medical emergency
0509 other social sciences
Psychology
Law
050104 developmental & child psychology
Program Evaluation
- Language
- ISSN
- 1077-8012
The Family Violence Response Team (FVRT) responded to police calls for domestic violence and provided services to victims. Police records were followed for (a) 327 FVRT clients with an index police visit in 1998 and (b) 498 nonconcurrent controls with an index visit in 1997. Except for marriage, no demographic characteristics were associated with batterer recidivism, as measured by police calls. The between-group odds ratio (OR) suggested that FVRT clients experienced a 1.7 (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.2 to 2.5) times greater recidivism rate than controls. Although increased reporting cannot be ruled out, results raise concerns about the effects of domestic violence interventions.