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Victims/Survivors

A critical aspect of judicial response to domestic violence and sexual assault is responding to the needs of victims/survivors. This area encompasses a wide range of topics, including trauma-informed justice systems, safety planning, confidentiality, child custody and victim-centered response. In this area, judges can find resources and assistance on many foundational victim/survivor issues.

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  • Opens in new window'Victims, Not Perpetrators': Ohio's Changing Actions to Change Habits Court

    Judge Paul M. Herbert of the Changing Actions to Change Habits Court in Ohio's Franklin County Municipal Court explains how a problem-solving approach to prostitution treats offenders as victims, giving them the support and links to social services they need to escape a cycle of exploitation and abuse.

  • Opens in new windowAn Integrated Approach: A Court's Innovative Response to Domestic and Sexual Violence

    Domestic violence can involve physical, emotional, financial and sexual abuse and require litigants to participant in multiple cases in many courtrooms before many judges. The Manhattan Integrated Domestic Violence Court streamlines the process by combining a family's cases in one courtroom before a single judge. By doing so, the court promotes greater victim safety and makes it easier to link litigants to services and monitor compliance with court orders.

  • Opens in new windowCentering Survivor Voices in Abusive Partner Intervention

    Juan Carlos Areán is joined by Carmen Pitre, executive director of the Sojourner Family Peace Center, and Cheryl Davis, former program director of the Colorado Domestic Violence Offender Management Board. They discuss the importance of centering survivor voices in abusive partner intervention work both at the community-based and system level. They highlight the value in forging mission-driven partnerships between victim services providers, abusive partner intervention program, and other system players and offer strategies to safely center survivor voices and experiences in the work, such as hosting multi-disciplinary case staffings, offering surrogate victim impact sessions, and including survivors in the curricula review and staff training processes.

  • Opens in new windowProject SAFE

    Project SAFE works to improve the services offered to criminalized black women who are survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

  • Opens in new windowSelf Represented Litigants

    Break from the Bench: What a judge needs to know about…Considerations for Cases Involving Self-Represented Litigants Experiencing Domestic Violence

    The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) invites you to the NCJFCJ’s Break from the Bench: A Lunch and Learn Series. Please join us for a 45-minute panel discussion on a wide range of topics focused on what a judge needs to know about domestic violence. Our expert faculty will provide information for judges and courts on strategies for improving responses to intimate partner violence.

     
  • Opens in new windowSpotlight on Victim Safety

    Complainants in domestic violence cases have unique needs, so the prompt and effective provision of services to victims is of paramount importance. What follows are key principles for ensuring victim safety gleaned from the operation of domestic violence courts in New York.

  • Opens in new windowWhat Victims Really Need: A Conversation with Author and Victim Advocate Susan Herman

    Susan Herman, who served for seven years as the executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, talks about her book Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime.

  • Opens in new windowYouthful Offender Domestic Violence Court: Working With Teen Victims and Abusers

    Judge Miriam Cyrulnik explains how the court—the first of its kind in the country—addresses the unique needs of adolescent domestic violence victims and perpetrators.