Requiring batterers to attend intervention programming as a condition of probation or as a component of pretrial diversion is becoming an integral part of many jurisdictions' response to domestic violence. This report addresses the need for increased info. exchange between criminal justice professionals & batterer treatment providers. Specifically, it will help criminal justice personnel -- including prosecutors, judges, probation officers, & victim advocates -- better understand the issues surrounding batterer intervention & enable them to make appropriate referrals to programs & to communicate effectively with program providers.

Whether or not to file domestic violence cases when the victim does not support prosecution is a difficult decision. Previous research provides contradictory evidence regarding the effects on victim safety, empowerment, and official measures of recidivism of prosecuting despite victim opposition, This study compared a jurisdiction that tends not to file cases if the victim opposes prosecution (the Bronx), with a jurisdiction that files all domestic violence cases (Brooklyn). We sampled 272 cases involving intimate partners that were declined for prosecution in the Bronx and 211 cases that were filed in Brooklyn but probably would have been declined in the Bronx. These cases were analyzed in regard to re-arrests using state criminal justice data. We also conducted either in-depth individual or group interviews with a total of 35 victims from the Bronx and Booklyn, and performed a cost analysis of differential resources required by the two policies.