Specialized domestic violence courts are designed to improve victim safety and enhance defendant accountability. In New York, the first domestic violence court opened in 1996 in Brooklyn, handling felony-level cases. It has served as a model for nearly 30 domestic violence courts in New York, including courts in the Bronx, Queens and Westchester Counties, the city of Buffalo, and smaller cities like Clarkstown and Binghamton. A more recent development in New York state is the integrated domestic violence court in which a single judge handles criminal domestic violence cases and related family issues, such as custody, visitation, civil protection orders and matrimonial actions. Today, there are nearly 300 courts nationwide that have special processing mechanisms for domestic violence cases.

A four-year old child draws his abusive father     and asks the therapist to add the word "Bad."

Amy Pumo is the therapist for the Child and Adolescent Witness Support Program located in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. She spoke with Carolyn Turgeon in June 2007 about the project

Q: Can you explain a bit more about the kinds of therapy you use? How do they work?
When children have had an experience like this, one of their ways of working through it is by repeating the story and trying to make sense of it, and in some cases trying to create alternative outcomes, at least in the way that they experience it, to help them move from a place of feeling helpless and powerless to a place of feeling like they have some control over at least their experience of what happened. In play therapy you engage them in those stories and look for themes of resilience and encourage those themes of resilience, ways that the children in the stories can seek out help or what they can do to feel safe again. The children create images that have meaning to them and so the therapist helps them engage with what they’ve created and pull out the meaning of it and then use that as a way to foster healing.

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Spotlight on... Victim Safety
One of the guiding principles of domestic violence courts—misdemeanor, felony, and integrated—is victim safety. Complainants in domestic violence cases have unique needs and concerns; they are often dependent economically on their assailant, have children in common, and may be threatened by the defendant or the defendant’s relatives during the course of a case. Therefore, 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:

Provide victims with immediate access to advocates.
Every victim should be given immediate access to an advocate who can provide safety planning and explain court procedures. Comprehensive victim advocacy should include access to counseling, job training, immigration services, child services, and other programs aimed at improving self-sufficiency. Ideally, a victim should remain paired with her advocate throughout the case (i.e., from police response through post-disposition).

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