For a long time family abuse was considered a private matter, one resolved without much intervention from law enforcement or the criminal justice system. But times have changed. As our society has become more attuned to victims' rights and safety, the justice system has become more collaborative in its prosecution and prevention efforts in these cases.

In several jurisdictions, justice agencies have come together to raise awareness about incidents of family abuse and develop strategies for how to prevent them. Community corrections, district attorneys, the judiciary, victim advocates and even adult protective services have learned that they need to communicate better if they are to change recidivism or reduce abuse in the first place.

"One of the lessons is to never do this work alone. You need to be teamed with victim service agencies and intervention programs. There's a lot of effort going on but it's about weaving those actions together and building a safety net. It requires a lot of community involvement," said Nancy Cline, Project Director for the Vera Institute of Justice. The Vera Institute of Justice oversees technical assistance and training for the Judicial Oversight Demonstration Initiative (JODI), which aims to improve collaboration, services and safety in domestic violence cases in three jurisdictions.

Cline said JODI, which is in its final year of funding, has shown that increased involvement by the judges, prosecution, probation and victim services can improve outcomes for domestic and family violence victims and help perpetrators change their behaviors. The hope is that other communities can adopt this model.

One of the major actions steps for the three communities involved in JODI was to improve judicial review of domestic violence cases. This meant that after conviction judges would now hear multiple updates on an offender's progress from probation agents and be able to take corrective action to keep the perpetrator on track.

"If courts make orders, but there's no way to check on them or motivate them, then the system becomes a big joke. People learn how to play it. Adding [judicial reviews] moves the benchmark. [Traditionally] for police, their job is done when the arrest is done; for prosecution --  when they get the conviction. This moves the benchmark to changing someone's behavior and having the system show their accountability," said Cline.

Within the JODI program, the different sites also made other changes to improve oversight of domestic violence cases. And, although the official evaluation of the project has not been completed, those involved with it believe they have come up with solid model that can be replicated.

JODI Sites Make Changes

Three jurisdictions have been involved in the five-year JODI project, which was funded through the National Institute of Justice and the Office of Violence Against Women in 1999. The Dorchester District Court in Boston, Milwaukee County in Wisconsin and Washtenaw County in Michigan each utilized the grant funding to improve supervision of domestic violence perpetrators and services for domestic violence victims.

In addition to more frequent judicial reviews of these cases, the sites also organized the judicial calendar so that domestic violence cases were heard at certain times on certain days, only a few judges heard these cases and created a special group of probation officers to supervise the defendants.

According to Cline, by intensifying the supervision of domestic violence defendant, the probation officers were able to increase their credibility with those individuals and provide better information to the judges.

In addition to following the defendants' progress more closely, the probation agents also work more directly with the victims to ensure they are receiving the services and protection they need.

"It is a big shift for probation agents. The agent in the domestic violence unit knows that the victim is the primary contact and they have to be attuned to getting information from a variety of sources - talking to employers, other family members and victims who are willing to talk," Cline said.

It is a difficult job for probation agents because they have to balance information with the safety of the victim, especially when they share information.

"You have to be careful because she may pay the penalty if he is sanctioned. You don't want to put them in more danger [so] you have to be open with them and tell them [the information] will be used in open court," Cline said. "It's complicated stuff but probation has been a key part of these initiatives."

In Washtenaw County, both probation and the prosecutors now manage domestic violence caseloads "vertically".

When the same prosecutors handle all domestic violence cases, and the violations of probation for those cases, then the defendants are more likely to be sanctioned for their actions.

"Before, when [these cases] were a part of the general caseload, you'd have someone come in and a victim would change her mind about testifying. With vertical prosecution we'd have a case that we'd try even without the victim's testimony. Now [the perpetrators] are more likely to plead [guilty]," said Alan Israel, Chief of Staff for Washtenaw County District Attorney's Office.

In Milwaukee County, prosecutors have begun working with the local jails to find evidence to try domestic violence cases through tape recordings of conversations that convicted defendants have had while incarcerated.

"Until the prosecutors heard these tapes of threats and people trying to hire hit men or bribes or guilting people into testifying [they weren't able to show violations had occurred]. Say you're arrested on a domestic violence charge, those are usually violated pretty quickly, but there's no way to prove the violation was an additional threat [to the victim]. But through the jail tapes, they can charge from those," said Cline,

But one of the most important components to the JODI was the shift is responsibility among the probation agents. In Washtenaw County, for example, probation agents are charged with helping to create safety plans for victims and providing resources for those victims.

"We have a higher compliance rate for those adjudicated as guilty. With victims and defendants, subjectively, we can say we have a strong feeling that by having intensive probation after adjudication and processes in place for safety planning, we did a better job of protecting victims and they felt safer," Israel said.

According to Cline, these changes and the streamlining of how domestic violence cases are handled will help to move the cases forward.

"The further away from an incident the accuser is, they feel guilty and change their mind. [Typically] the criminal justice system moves very slow. It may be 14 months before a trial happens and victims give up because it's not meaningful to help them," she said

Israel said the demonstration project has shown that, with a new focus on victims and accountability, domestic violence outcomes can improve. But he knows that attitudes about domestic violence and other crimes, such as sexual assault, need to continue to change.

"So many of these cases go unreported. We've come a long way and we still have a long way to go as a society in terms of convincing victims to come forward," he said.

Probation Focuses on Elders

One growing group of victims who typically are reluctant to come forward is the elderly. But now probation agents and agencies are striving to learn more about the types of abuse endured by elders and how it can be prevented through careful supervision of probationers.

According to Chayo Reyes, retired Los Angeles Police Detective in the Elder Abuse Unit and a consultant and trainer in elder financial abuse, there is much that probation officers can do to reduce physical and financial exploitation for this group.

"What happens is the suspects, when they come out of the system and can't get work, they may tap into relatives or friends or elderly strangers. They know a person's forgetful and can get in a position of trust," said Reyes.

Reyes has seen it happen. One of his cases involved a former offender in his 50's who befriended an elderly woman who had dementia. He convinced her to place his name on her bank accounts and then purchased an RV and pick-up truck and began planning a "vacation" to Mexico.

The woman's neighbors became concerned when she spoke of her Mexican "adventure" and subsequently they contacted police.

Armed with California's law against elder financial abuse, officers were able to arrest the man and bring his crimes to court where he pleaded guilty to charges. He served five years in prison .

"It's amazing what you find with elders. We look at their pattern of expenditures, then we look at what happens after the suspect enters their lives. They 'chip' on them for small dollar amounts at first. You'll be able to see why they are willing participants. They may feel sorry for them," said Reyes.

Reyes, in his training classes, discusses how probation and law enforcement officers and other social services workers can play an important role in ensuring elders are not being victimized.

"You can have a probation officer come by and give a check [on a probationer] but no one takes the time to find out about their relationship with the elder in the home. You need to interview the elder separately, you need to key into why the person won't give an honest answer [to you]- they may be intimidated or fearful [of the person in the house with them,]" Reyes said.

Reyes said that probation officers and others in public safety should keep an eye out for signs that an elder might be taken advantage of. And, when making home visits, take the time to develop a relationship with the elder in the home so that trust can be developed. In the end, the elder may share more about what is going on in the home.

"This is a crime that has a red flag. These people need people to care for them and there are neighbors and others in [their] lives that know what is going on. When a person becomes less mobile, that's when the calls start coming [about abuse]. Elder abuse can be prevented when people are aware of what they can do," Reyes said.

A new project involving the American Probation and Parole Association, the Office for Victims of Crime, the non-profit Justice Solutions and the American Bar Association's Commission for Law and Aging also hopes to raise awareness of elder abuse in community corrections.

Elder Abuse Project

As more offenders are sentenced to community corrections and look for support in the community, they may seek assistance from their parents or elderly relatives until they get on their feet. Leaders in community corrections believe that this trend deserves special attention and have developed a special training curriculum to address it.

"In probation and community corrections, what we are realizing is the growth with elderly population and what is coming to the fore is the amount of abuse that is happening," said Matthew DeMichele, Research Associate for the APPA.

DeMichele said that the curriculum, which has been piloted in three communities, helps community corrections officers to understand how important it is to take notice of an elder in a probationer's residence and how well that elder is faring.

"They have the ability to see what the situation looks like. Is grandma ok? Are they in poor conditions, heavily bruised, missing medications," said DeMichele. "These are common sense things that we often don't think about. The elderly can be intimidated or pushed around, often out of fear or loyalty."

The other issue addressed in the training is that probationers may look for and find jobs in elder care homes, which are, in many cases, under-regulated. As a result, some people may end up working in these facilities who have not had criminal background checks, DeMichele said, which can be the start of elder abuse in these facilities.

"At the gist of it for community corrections is it's not so much more intensively supervising people who are on community corrections for elder abuse charges but rather looking at how probation officers might be able to mitigate a situation where an offender is placed around the elderly," DeMichele said.

In Jackson, Tennessee, the Madison County Community Corrections Program has held the APPA's elder abuse training as part of a general family and domestic violence course taught to community corrections and public safety professionals. Leaders of the program say it has provided the officers with a wealth of information and given them a new perspective from which to view their work.

Bob Anderson, Program Manager for Madison County Community Corrections Program, said the training touches upon financial abuse, such as how the offenders may be paying court costs without a job, as well as physical abuse.

"When we go to people's homes, if there is a relative there, we know what to look for. We walk around the home. You are looking for guns and dope, but you can see if there is evidence of abuse, bruises, if their medication has been changed. If there is a cancer patient taking some medications, those medications might be sold on the street," Anderson said.

Anderson said the community corrections officers in Madison County conduct team home visits, which allows one officer to talk with the probationer, while the other can speak to the elderly person in the home and investigate possible signs of abuse.

He added that while the caseloads of most community corrections officers are overflowing with drug abusers and others at high risk for criminal activity, it is still important to be able to recognize abuse of this population. Agencies can begin addressing these issues by working with human and social service agencies in the community, Anderson said, to make them aware of what community corrections can do.

"It's like Safe Neighborhood for the elderly. We are the ones who go into the homes and we can see how things are going. We can see if a defendant is driving the car all the time and the grandmother is never going out," Anderson said.

Resources:

Vera Institute of Justice: http://www.vera.org/project/project1_1.asp?section_id=4&project_id=28

Chayo Reyes: Phone: (562) 926-7380
E-Mail: Chayo@integrity.com

Alan Israel, Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office
Phone: (734) 222-6666
email: israela@ewashtenaw.org

Washtenaw County web site: www.ewashtenaw.org

National Center of Elder Abuse: http://www.elderabusecenter.org/

Office for Victims of Crime: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/

Justice Solutions: http://www.justicesolutions.org/index.htm

ABA Commission on Law and Aging  http://www.abanet.org/aging/home.html