Intimate Partner Violence

The mobile device and software for this program were developed to enable frontline police officers to access police database records and upload timely and accurate information while out in the field. This program is rated Promising. The program led to statistically significantly increases in the total number of recorded street checks, the total number of recorded driving offenses, and the number of drug offenses (possession and use) recorded per month by police officers.

This is a prevention planning and implementation system designed to improve risk and protective factors, and reduce secretive problems, in military communities. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between the bases assigned to NORTH STAR and the comparison bases on measures of physical or emotional interpersonal violence/partner abuse, physical or emotional child abuse, hazardous drinking, suicidality, or prescription drug misuse.

This program targets behavior changes in men who have committed a domestic violence offense, to reduce their risk of reoffending. The program is rated Promising. Men in the treatment group had statistically significant reductions in their rate of reconvictions and time to both their first violent and general reconvictions, compared with men in the control group. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in general or domestic violence reoffending within 12 months.

The goal of this bystander-focused, classroom-delivered curriculum is to reduce rates of interpersonal violence among high school students. The program is rated Ineffective. The program had no statistically significant impact on various measures of interpersonal violence, victim empathy, and measures of proactive bystander behavior. There was a statistically significant decrease for the treatment group in bystander denial about the role students could play in preventing interpersonal violence.

This program involves film and guided discussion to promote bystander behavior related to dating abuse. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups on intervening when a peer was being harmed or physically hurt by an intimate partner, or when a peer was intoxicated or being bullied. The intervention group was statistically significantly more likely to intervene in peer self-harm, compared with the control group.

This program equips police with on-officer cameras to record contacts with civilians during intimate-partner violence incidents. The program is rated Promising. Camera use was statistically significantly more likely to result in arrests, charges filed, cases furthered, and both guilty pleas and verdicts. There was no statistically significant difference in sentence length. However, there was a statistically significantly greater reduction in case processing time in cases not involving a camera.

This was a sexual assault prevention program adapted for American Indian girls that sought to reduce sexual assault victimization and to improve sexual assault resistance skills and self-defense knowledge. The program is rated Promising. Girls who received the intervention reported statistically significantly lower rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment, compared with girls in the comparison group. However, there was no impact on reported rates of physical dating violence.

This is a program for young women in nonemergency health centers in Sweden. It involves routine inquiry about their experiences with violence victimization and offers empowerment strategies for victimized women. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups in self-reported measures of physical violence, sexual violence (touch or penetration), and emotional violence at the 12-month follow-up.

This is a program for moderate- and high-risk males accused of assaulting their intimate partners. The program is rated Promising. Compared with the comparison group, program participants had a statistically significant lower likelihood of being charged with any new domestic, property, or administrative offense and of having contact with the police. There was no statistically significant difference between groups on likelihood of being charged with a new violent offense.

This is a court-mandated, post-conviction intervention for males at high-risk for perpetrating family violence. The program is designed to decrease family violence through cognitive–behavioral approaches. The program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant lower likelihood of arrest for any offense for participants, compared with the control group. However, there were no statistically significant differences found between the groups in family violence arrests.

This is a cognitive–behavioral, trauma-informed group intervention that is designed to prevent relationship conflict and intimate partner violence (IPV) among military couples. The program is rated Promising. There were statistically significant reductions in physical and psychological IPV for the treatment group, compared with the control group.

This is a home-visitation program that aims to prevent and address factors associated with child abuse and neglect. The program is rated Promising. Parents in the SafeCare group demonstrated statistically significant decreases in depression symptoms and risk of child protective services recidivism, compared with parents in the control group. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the risk of child physical abuse among a sample of American Indian parents.

This program is designed to stabilize families at risk for parent-child separation by addressing housing needs. The program is rated Effective. There was a statistically significant positive effect on rate of placement in foster care for treatment group children, meaning treatment group children were placed in foster care at a slower rate, compared with control group children.

This program is a cognitive-behavioral, trauma-informed group therapy program for active-duty or former military personnel who have engaged in recent physical intimate partner violence (IPV). The program is rated Promising. There were statistically significant reductions in physical and psychological IPV for the SAH-M treatment group, compared with the control group.

This is a prosecutor-led diversion program for nonviolent defendants, which is designed to decrease the number of convictions and reduce recidivism while improving administrative efficiency and cost effectiveness. The program is rated Ineffective. The program had a statistically significant effect on reducing the likelihood of conviction, but there was no statistically significant effect on recidivism for program participants, compared with comparison participants.

A free, interactive online program for adults designed to educate the public about the effects of childhood exposure to domestic violence (DV) and improve adults’ self-efficacy in helping children exposed to DV. The program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant increase in knowledge about DV exposure for both community and university samples, compared with the control groups. There was a statistically significant increase in self-efficacy for only the community sample.

This was a policing strategy designed to reduce the severity of intimate partner violence and the rearrests of males who had been previously arrested for, or had admitted to, a first domestic violence offense and received a conditional caution. The program is rated Promising. Results indicated a statistically significant reduction in frequency and prevalence of rearrests of persons assigned to the treatment group compared with those assigned to the control group.

This is a court-based, pretrial, GPS supervision intervention for defendants arrested for intimate partner violence offenses. The program is rated Ineffective. Program participants showed no statistically significant reductions in risk of rearrests, domestic rearrests, or failure to appear in court. However, the program did show statistically significant reductions in defendants’ risk of failure to appear at meetings with pretrial services.

This is an adult reentry program designed to reduce recidivism among high-risk males who were previously released from a state prison but returned to prison for violating conditions of their supervised release. The program is rated Promising. The program was shown to have a statistically significant effect on reducing revocation and reconviction; however, it did not have a statistically significant effect on reducing rearrests and reincarceration.

This was an emotional- and behavioral-skills enhancement program targeted at adults who engaged in aggressive behavior with their partners. This group-format program aimed to promote psychological flexibility and thereby decrease aggression in participants. The program is rated Effective. Participants reported less physical and psychological aggression at post-treatment and at the 6-month follow up. These findings were statistically significant.

This program provides support for mothers who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). The goal of the program is to assist mothers and ultimately improve their children’s adjustment. The program was rated Promising. Results showed a statistically significant improvement in children’s externalizing behaviors and attitudes about family violence, although there was no effect on children’s internalizing behaviors. Mothers in the program also experienced greater reductions in IPV over time.

This program provided resources via telephone to women victimized by intimate partner violence (IPV). It provided referrals to community programs, helped participants overcome barriers to obtaining services, and provided social support. The program is rated Ineffective. Results showed no statistically significant differences between the treatment and comparison groups on IPV victimization, feeling vulnerable to someone, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Under a 2003 Washington State law, incarcerated individuals who had committed certain nonviolent offenses were able to acquire earlier release time of up to 50 percent of their maximum sentence. The program is rated Promising. Individuals who were released early under the law had a statistically significant lower rate of felony convictions, compared with individuals who were not released early; however, there was no statistically significant difference on violent convictions.

This program was designed to reduce relapse and criminal recidivism by providing comprehensive aftercare services to individuals convicted of felonies, with alcohol- and drug-related histories. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant program effects on rearrests, substance abuse relapse, or employment.

This program is designed to increase active-bystander behaviors and reduce dating and sexual violence in college and high school students. The program is rated Promising. Students who participated in the program had a statistically significantly greater number of observed and self-reported active-bystander behaviors than students who did not participate. However, there was no statistically significant impact on sexual violence victimization or sexual harassment.

This is a crisis-response program in which police connect female victims of intimate partner violence with a social service provider, via telephone, at the scene of a domestic violence dispute. The program is rated Promising. When compared with the control group, program participants reported experiencing less violence at follow up. Participants were also more likely to receive an order of protection, and to contact domestic violence services. These differences were statistically significant.

This is a community-based program in which adolescent mothers had meetings with trained home visitors, who delivered a parenting and an adolescent curriculum. This program is rated Promising. Treatment group participants demonstrated statistically significantly improvements in parenting skills and school status compared with the control group. However, there was no statistically significant impact on depressive symptoms, condom and hormonal contraceptive use, or repeat pregnancies.

This is a program for adolescent females with a history of violence/abuse and involvement in the child welfare system. The goal of the program was to reduce re-victimization in teen dating situations. The program used mindfulness-based, cognitive interventions to build skills for responding to risky situations (including reasoning and problem solving). The program is rated Promising. The intervention was shown to statistically significantly reduce sexual and physical re-victimization.

This is a 12-session program for adolescent females with a history of exposure to violence/abuse and involvement in the child welfare system. The goal of the program was to reduce re-victimization in teen dating situations. The program used a health-promotion approach to help girls develop healthy relationships. The program is rated Promising. The intervention had a statistically significant impact on reducing physical re-victimization, but not sexual re-victimization.

This was a community-based prevention program that targeted youth at risk of becoming involved in abusive relationships. The program was rated Promising. Treatment group youth demonstrated statistically significant reductions in physical abuse perpetration and trauma symptoms and a lower likelihood of emotional abuse and threatening behavior victimization, compared with control group youth. However, there were no differences between groups in threatening behavior perpetration or hostility.

This program aims to reduce harmful behavior among young adult couples who are neither married nor cohabitating. It uses a brief counseling method to address ambivalence toward behavioral change and encourage self-motivation for behavioral change. The program is rated Promising. This program showed statistically significant reductions on reports of moderate physical aggression and harmful alcohol consumption, but no statistically significant effects on reports of psychological aggression.

This program is a problem-solving court that is part of a unified “one family-one judge” model, which means all criminal, family, and matrimonial cases involving the same family are handled by one judge. This program is rated Ineffective There were no statistically significant differences in re-arrests and conviction rates when comparing the IDV court cases with traditional family court cases.

The program is a problem-solving court that operate a specialized caseload for domestic violence-related cases only, and for which eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis. Criminal domestic violence courts tend to be more common throughout the U.S. The program is rated Ineffective. The criminal domestic violence courts in New York statistically significantly reduced case-processing time, but there was no statistically significant impact on recidivism.

This is a school-based education program designed to teach students the warning signs of dating violence. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant impacts on perceptions of helpfulness in others, likelihood of seeking help, perpetration, victimization, and abusive or fearful dating experiences. However, there was a statistically significant increase in knowledge of dating violence in treatment group students.

This program seeks to reduce the recidivism of persons previously convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol (DUI) through intensive testing and monitoring of drug and alcohol consumption. The main goal is to encourage sobriety of convicted persons 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The program is rated Promising. The program led to a statistically significant reduction in repeat DUI and domestic violence arrests, but did not impact first-time DUI arrests or traffic crashes.

A health education program for 7th and 8th graders designed to delay sexual behavior and promote healthy dating relationships. The program is rated Promising. The program was shown to statistically significantly reduce emotional and physical dating violence victimization. However, the program did not have a statistically significant effect on physical perpetration of dating violence.

This program was designed to provide judicial monitoring of people convicted of domestic violence through frequent court appearances before a judge. The goal was to ensure compliance with program requirements and deter future violence and re-abuse of victims. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention group and control group in rearrests, attendance at court-ordered programs, or completion of programs.

This is a supervision program for high-risk youths. The program is rated Ineffective. Participants had a statistically significant decrease in the number of felony petitions, compared with the control group; however, there were no differences in petitions for new offenses, misdemeanor petitions, warrant status, days spent in custody, GPA, classes passed, classes failed, or number of days of school attended. There were also mixed findings on petitions for probation violations.

This program comprises a violence prevention curriculum, which is designed to assist youth in detention to overcome obstacles such as gangs, violence, crime, and substance abuse. The program is rated Effective. Treatment group youth who participated in the program had lower rates of recidivism and took a longer amount of time to recidivate, compared with control group youth, at the 1-year follow up. These differences were statistically significant.

This is a restorative justice program that uses conferencing to repair the harm. The program is rated Promising. Participants had a statistically significant lower likelihood of committing violent offenses, and a greater likelihood of reporting a belief in the law, negative attitude toward reoffending, and greater effort to not drive drunk, compared with the control group. There were mixed findings in the rate of drunk driving, and no difference in property crimes, shoplifting, or recidivism.

This program aims to reduce recidivism of high- and moderate-risk individuals on probation by assigning them to intensive supervision by an officer with a reduced caseload, and through the use of evidence-based practices. The program is rated Promising. Individuals who were supervised by probation officers with reduced caseloads were statistically significantly less likely to be rearrested for any crime after 2 years, compared with individuals supervised by officers with traditional caseloads.

This is a problem-oriented policing program that offered a collection of enforcement and non-enforcement strategies designed to reduce homicide in Richmond, Calif. The initiative combined traditional law enforcement practices with prevention and intervention efforts that involved partnerships with the community, other city agencies, and local schools. This program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant reduction of homicides following the implementation of the initiative.

This is a family drug court program designed to serve families involved with child welfare as a result of parental substance use. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group parents had a statistically significant higher percentage of experiencing family reunification, compared with comparison group parents. Children of treatment group parents also had a statistically significant fewer number of days in non-kinship or long-term foster care compared with children of comparison group parents.

This dual intervention aims to reduce peer violence and sexual harassment in middle schoolers by emphasizing consequences and increasing surveillance of unsafe areas. The program is rated Promising. The intervention group had statistically significant reductions in sexual victimization and in violence victimization and perpetration compared with those in the control group. There were no statistically significant effects on sexual harassment perpetration, or knowledge, attitudes, or intentions.

The program model enlists second responders to make home visits to try to help victims find long-term solutions to help repeat incident victims of family violence including intimate partner abuse, abuse within families or households, and elder abuse. The program is rated Ineffective. Overall, the evidence found no statistically significant differences between the treatment and control groups on prevalence of and frequency of new domestic incidents and time to failure.

This community-based advocacy intervention seeks to extend and improve social support to women experiencing domestic/intimate partner violence. The program is rated Promising. Participants showed a statistically significant increase in accessing community resources, engaging in activities to meet their needs, in quality of life, and a reduction in re-abuse. However, there were no statistically significant impacts on continued involvement with their assailants, and perceived social support.

This is a home visitation program for low-income, first-time mothers designed to improve family functioning. The program is rated Effective. Treatment families reported statistically significant decreases in child abuse/neglect and domestic violence and improvements in home learning environments, compared with control families. Treatment children reported statistically significant decreases in substance use, compared with control children, but there were no differences in behavior problems.

A multicomponent approach designed to improve behavioral and mental health in children exposed to intimate partner violence by targeting their knowledge and attitudes about family violence, their emotional adjustment, and their social behavior. The program is rated No Effects. There was no statistically significant improvement for the treatment group in measures of children’s internalizing or externalizing problems or their attitudes about family violence, compared with the control group.

This is a brief early intervention and secondary prevention model, designed to prevent the development of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for children aged 7–18 years who have recently experienced a potentially traumatic event. The program is rated Promising. Compared with the comparison group, the intervention group was statistically significantly less likely to have a PTSD diagnosis or receive a partial/full PTSD diagnosis; they also showed a lower severity of PTSD symptoms.

This is a dyadic, relationship-based therapy intended for maltreating parents (who had neglectful experiences in their childhood) and their infants. This program is rated Effective. Families in the treatment group experienced a statistically significant higher rate of secure attachment and a higher likelihood of change from insecure to secure attachment from baseline to follow up, as well as a lower rate of stable disorganized attachment, compared with families in the control group.

This program is designed to provide support to battered mothers and reduce conduct problems in their children. The program is rated Promising. There were statistically significant effects in favor of the treatment group on measures of children’s conduct problems, happiness, and mothers’ aggression toward children. However, there were no statistically significant effects on children’s internalizing behaviors, mothers’ return to abusive partners, or recurrence of physical violence.

This program consists of a specialized police unit, which was designed to prevent recidivism among people convicted of domestic violence offenses and to assist victims of domestic violence through the process of prosecution and recovery. The program is rated Promising. The treatment group assigned to the Domestic Violence Unit had a statistically significant lower likelihood of recidivating, compared with the control group, who were assigned to standard patrol.

This is a dyadic, relationship-based treatment for parents and young children designed to help restore normal developmental functioning in the wake of violence and trauma. The program is rated Promising. The treatment group had statistically significant reductions in the number of child traumatic stress disorder symptoms, child co-occurring diagnoses, child problem behaviors, maternal symptoms, and maternal depression, compared with the comparison group, at the posttest and 6-month follow ups.

This program seeks to increase prosocial attitudes and behaviors toward and awareness of risky behaviors and precursors to sexual victimization among potential bystanders and third-person witnesses. The program is rated Promising. Intervention participants showed statistically significant improvements in knowledge of sexual violence and bystander attitudes, behavior, efficacy, and likelihood of helping friends, and a reduction in rape-myth acceptance, compared with nonparticipants.

This interactive classroom curriculum is designed to reduce youth dating violence by addressing bullying, unsafe sexual behavior, and substance use. The program is rated No Effects. The program had small, statistically significant effects on decreasing dating violence and sexual harassment/assault victimization. However, there were no significant effects on sexual harassment/assault perpetration, peer violence perpetration or victimization, sexual activity, substance use, or prosocial attitudes.

This is a prevention program for middle and high school students, which is designed to stop or prevent dating violence perpetration and victimization. This program is rated Effective. The intervention group showed statistically significant reductions in psychological, physical, and sexual abuse perpetration, and physical abuse victimization, compared with the control group at the 4-year follow up; however, there were no significant differences between groups on sexual abuse victimization.

This is an empowerment training program for pregnant women in China who have been abused. The program is rated Promising. For the experimental group, there were statistically significant declines in levels of psychological abuse, minor physical violence, physical functioning, physical and emotional role limitation, and postnatal depression. However, there were no statistically significant effects on severe physical violence, sexual abuse, and other health-related, quality-of-life measures.