Untitled Document

Domestic Abuse Intervention Project

Duluth, Minnesota

Highlighted Feature: Independent Advocacy Program Oversees Coordinated Response to Domestic Violence

Contact the STOP T.A. Project
for more information.
Phone: 800-256-5883
Fax: 202-265-0579
e-mail: STOPGrants_TA_Project@csgi.com

Overview and Mission

The Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP), a program component of Minnesota Development, Inc., is a not-for-profit
corporation dedicated to fostering a coordinated community response to domestic violence. Founded in 1981, the primary goals of the
program are victim safety, offender accountability, and changing the climate of tolerance toward violence in the community. The DAIP
offers a variety of services, including:

· coordination among criminal justice system personnel and other service providers to make sure the needs and safety concerns of
victims of domestic violence are met;

· a men’s nonviolence education program, providing classes to domestic violence offenders in the community at no cost;

· advocacy to the partners of the men in the nonviolence education program, including a support group that meets twice a month;

· a class for women who have used violence; and

· victim advocacy for Native Americans through the Mending the Sacred Hoop project.

The same year the DAIP was established, the Duluth Police Department became the first police department in the United States to institute
and enforce a mandatory arrest policy. Since that time, the police department has worked closely with other agencies in the criminal justice
system and DAIP in developing a coordinated community response in Duluth. Officers receive extensive training in documenting
domestic violence cases and provide needed information to all the criminal justice agencies.

The Duluth Police Department received a COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) Grant in the fall of 1996 to pursue an even more
coordinated effort in responding to domestic violence cases. Through this grant, the police department hired a domestic violence
investigator, a part-time advocate, and a domestic violence specialist who coordinates the flow of information in and out of the
department.

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The primary goals of the program are victim safety, offender accountability, and changing the climate of tolerance toward violence in the
community.
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Demographics

Duluth is located in St. Louis County in Northeastern Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior. The city covers 43,000 acres and has a
population of approximately 89,000. Duluth is primarily a white working-class community, with 2 percent Native Americans (primarily
Anishinabe and Dakota), 9 percent African-Americans, and 9 percent Asian-Americans. Shipping, mining and tourism constitute several of
Duluth’s major industries. Two universities are located in Duluth.

Description of Response

Essential elements of a coordinated community response. The DAIP has identified eight characteristics and activities of an effective
coordinated community response, which it fosters in its own work.

1. Develop a common philosophical framework. The community and practitioners should have a common understanding about battering and the
complicated dynamics of domestic violence. This promotes an atmosphere conducive to holding offenders accountable and avoiding
victim blaming.

2. Create consistent policies for intervening agencies. The DAIP assists agencies in developing policies that respect the efforts of other agencies
and incorporate the goals of intervention. DAIP works to ensure that women who have been battered are involved in policy development
and victim safety is a primary goal of policies. Practitioners from across disciplines work with DAIP to develop trainings that facilitate
consistency in policy implementation throughout the criminal justice system.

3. Monitor and track individual cases to ensure practitioner accountability. Each agency has a clear understanding of its role and the role of other
agencies in responding to domestic violence. After determining what case information is important to each agency, the DAIP assists
agencies in routinely locating and obtaining that information. Utilizing a computer database, the DAIP maintains case files on each
domestic violence offender and tracks cases through the system to ensure:

· the offender is complying with all orders of the court;

· practitioners are complying with policies; and

· individual and systemic problems are identified.

When problems arise, DAIP staff can review case files and conduct interviews with practitioners or affected victims to ascertain the nature
of the issue. Subsequently, DAIP staff may informally bring together practitioners to discuss the problem and develop solutions, which are
implemented and evaluated from the perspective of their impact on victim safety.

Utilizing a computer database, the DAIP maintains case files on each domestic violence offender and tracks cases through the system.
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4. Coordinate the exchange of information and inter-agency communications. DAIP assists practitioners in developing routing systems for
information on individual cases and program decisions. For example:

· the men’s nonviolence education program facilitators keep track of offenders’ behavior on probation and class attendance, and relay that
information to the probation department;

· the men’s nonviolence program also convenes meetings among facilitators, probation agents, battered women’s advocates, and police to
discuss specific cases and issues;

· a domestic violence specialist (whose role is discussed below) serves as a link among the different sectors; and

· a checklist for report writing and investigation helps law enforcement officers gather the maximum amount of information at the
domestic violence crime scene.

5. Provide resources and services to victims. Since its beginning, the DAIP has worked closely with advocates from the Women’s Coalition, the
local shelter, to carry out its activities. This relationship helps ensure that development of policies and programs, as well as monitoring
and evaluation, are grounded in the concrete experiences of battered women.

Advocates from the coalition contact victims immediately after any arrest is made, and offer a variety of direct support services and
options (see below). Women’s resource advocates at the DAIP contact the partners of every offender in the men’s nonviolence education
program, to obtain information about the history of abuse and to invite them to orientation sessions to explain the program. Advocacy is
enhanced by the police department’s willingness to give advocates access to police reports and other information.

The close relationship between the DAIP and the local shelter helps ensure that development of policies and programs, as well as
monitoring and evaluation are grounded in the concrete experiences of battered women.
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6. Ensure sanctions, restrictions and services for offenders. The DAIP has successfully advocated to law enforcement departments to adopt a
mandatory arrest policy, developed policies with prosecutors and judges that discourage the "screening out" of cases, and encouraged
strict penalties for repeat offenders.

Recently, the probation department developed a specific pre-sentence investigation form in domestic violence cases that encourages
documentation of the full history of an offender’s violent behavior. Probation officers conduct this investigation with the help of other
agencies and advocates, who route important history and risk factor data to them, and make sentencing recommendations using this
information.

7. Work to protect children. DAIP develops programs and intervention strategies to protect children and minimize the effects of

The probation department developed a pre-sentence investigation form for domestic violence cases that encourages documentation of the
full history of an offender’s violent behavior.
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domestic violence on them. While the coordinated response promotes a strong link between agencies and child protective services, it
underscores the trauma suffered by children who are separated from their mothers. Through educational workshops, child protective
workers are trained to:

· identify harm caused to children who are separated from their non-abusive parents;

· understand the relationship of communities of color to child intervention services;

· understand the nature, cause and extent of domestic violence; and

· use a variety of tools to screen for domestic violence.

The Visitation Center, another component of Minnesota Program Development, Inc., offers a safe and neutral drop-off site where parents
can be assured of a safe exchange of children for visitation with a non-custodial parent who has perpetrated domestic violence. Use of the
Visitation Center is authorized, and in some cases, court-ordered for non-custodial parents when:

· the non-custodial parent has used children to control his former partner;

· when children or custodial parents report a fear of violence, intimidation, or harassment connected with visits; or

· when there are concerns that a non-custodial parent will leave the county with the children.

8. Evaluate the coordinated justice system response from the victims’ perspective. The coordinated community response includes a comprehensive
evaluation component that looks at the impact of policies and protocols on victims of domestic violence. A variety of evaluation methods
are utilized, with a focus on obtaining feedback directly from battered and formerly battered women on the success or failure of policies or
programs. DAIP and shelter staff also collect data on a continuing basis to determine if agreed-upon procedures and policies are
consistently applied. DAIP staff review police, court, shelter and DAIP records and conduct telephone interviews with victims.

Partnership between advocates and police. The Women’s Coalition developed an agreement with the Duluth Police Department to
provide follow-up advocacy to victims immediately after a domestic assault. Once the arresting officer transfers custody of the suspect to
the jail, the jail contacts the Women’s Coalition, providing the name, number and address of the victim. The Women’s Coalition notifies an
on-call advocate, who attempts to contact the victim right away. The advocate offers the victim information and support, and asks her a
series of questions intended to elicit information about the actual level of violence and dangerousness of the perpetrator. With the victim’s
permission, the advocate notifies probation officers and prosecutors to discuss charging and bail conditions. Advocates are also available
to accompany victims to interviews with law enforcement.

The Women’s Coalition developed an agreement with the Duluth Police Department to provide follow-up advocacy to victims immediately
after a domestic assault.
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Prosecution-led training for police. Every year, the Duluth City Attorney’s Office participates in training law enforcement officers on the investigation and
documentation of domestic assault cases from a prosecutor’s standpoint. The training is intended to help officers identify and/or properly document:

· battering behavior;

· excited utterances (as well as other statements that could fall into a hearsay exception);

· self defense;

· the full range of information needed from the victim (e.g., histories and risk assessment); and

· all victim injuries.

Development of a domestic violence specialist position. The Duluth Police Department, in collaboration with the DAIP, the Women’s
Coalition, probation department and the city attorney’s office, created a multi-agency position, called the domestic violence specialist, in
1996 to organize and direct the flow of information in domestic violence cases through the criminal justice system. The police department,
prosecutor’s office and probation office jointly supervise the domestic violence specialist. The domestic violence specialist’s office is
located in the Duluth Police Department.

· reviews 911 "watch reports" on a daily basis and pulls every domestic violence-related case, including those that were mis-coded or
involve domestic violence in any way (these reports initiate the creation of each file);

· immediately locates the draft police report that corresponds to each 911 call, and any other criminal history on the suspect;

· contacts the women’s shelter to get the victim’s record of the history and severity of violence; and

· locates and files any other information available on the suspect, including outstanding or past civil protection orders, suspect’s previous
involvement in batterer’s treatment programs, probation history, and any available evidence for the current assault.

The domestic violence specialist then hand-delivers the file to the probation office for supervised release determinations and sentencing
recommendations. The prosecutor’s office reviews the file prior to pretrial. The specialist adds additional information to the file as it
becomes available.

The domestic violence specialist is responsible for building complete files on every reported domestic violence case, and routing the files to
prosecution and probation for consideration at the arraignment and pre-trial hearings.
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The Domestic Violence Safety and Offender Accountability Audit. Since 1996, Duluth and St. Louis County piloted several audits to examine the institutional
processes in place to respond to battered women, and whether the goals of victim safety and offender accountability are being met. The multi-agency audit team,
formed with the full support of agency supervisors, is composed of representatives of the probation department, law enforcement, the district attorney’s office, the
city attorney’s office, the Women’s Coalition, and DAIP. The team examines various components of Duluth’s system, including:

· its technology and resources;

· rules and regulations;

· administrative procedures;

· linkages, education and training; and

· the relative social positions of victims, offenders, and practitioners.

Future changes to the Duluth system will be based upon the results of the audit. DAIP is compiling a manual that describes the audit
process and provides practical and helpful audit tools in order to help other jurisdictions conduct an audit of a single agency or an entire
jurisdiction’s response to domestic violence.

Duluth and St. Louis County piloted several audits to examine the institutional processes in place to respond to battered women, and
whether the goals of victim safety and offender accountability are being met.