On October 26, 2018, a diverse group of community members gathered at the University of Cincinnati College of Law to attend and participate in a Hamilton County Domestic Violence Summit. This Summit was collaboratively conceived of and organized by individuals at the Hamilton County Adult Probation Department, Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio Justice and Policy Center, University of Cincinnati College of Law Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice, Women Helping Women, and YWCA Greater Cincinnati, out of their shared commitment to improving systemwide response to domestic violence locally.
Improving systemwide response requires systemwide participation, thus, the Summit organizers aimed to bring together people from various different local organizations and agencies whose work involves intimate partner abuse – and we succeeded. Over 110 people attended, including: law enforcement, social workers, magistrates and judges, child welfare workers and advocates, victim advocates, probation and parole officers, criminal defense, prosecutors, and domestic relations lawyers, batterer intervention program staff, professors and law students, and mediators. The below summary briefly describes what happened at the Summit and also identifies specific issues and possible next steps.
Training Topics Included:
- Batterer manipulation,
- The systemic challenges and obstacles victims face,
Research on Recantation, - Why victims stay in abusive relationships and/or don’t participate in prosecutions,
- Lethality factors and assessment, and
- Post-conviction best practices
Small Group Workshops: After lunch, ten small groups met in break-out sessions to discuss two hypothetical situations. By design, these groups included participants who work in different areas of the system to facilitate discussions from varying perspectives and priorities, to identify potential gaps in the system, and to encourage brainstorming on how to develop collaborative, systemwide strategies for improvement.
Plenary Panel Discussion: “Best Practices, Goals, and Next Steps”: The Summit’s final session was a plenary panel discussion designed to build on the day’s earlier trainings and small group workshops, and to help pull things together. Each of the five panelists spoke briefly about where his or her organization fit into Hamilton County’s systems and structures for addressing and responding to domestic violence, and about that organization’s existing best practices relating to collaborating with others in the system. The moderator opened up the panel for attendee/audience Q&A, with the goal of discussing how different actors in the system can foster a more integrated response to domestic violence in Hamilton County. Following Q&A, the panel transitioned to a discussion of “next steps” that had begun to emerge from the day’s work and the panel’s and audience members’ insights.
Resources Available in Hamilton County: The planning committee for the Summit compiled a list of domestic violence-related resources available in Hamilton County that was included in the packet of materials distributed to the participants
Issues Identified and Possible Next Steps: Based on the discussion that took place during the final session of the Summit, a review of the notes taken in the break-out groups, and the evaluations, the following is a summary of key issues identified and possible next steps.
| Issues Identified (recurring) | Possible Next Steps |
| Partnerships between law enforcement and victim advocacy agencies for early intervention (i.e., DVERT Program (CPD and Women Helping Women) and LAP Program (Colerain PD and YWCA)) | Create more collaborations between law enforcement and DV advocates for early and comprehensive response |
| Cultural competency – Adequately addressing the needs of our most under-served, vulnerable, minority, and immigrant populations | Recruiting, hiring, and training officers who are multi-lingual Translation services to improve and increase more community liaisons to work with/for diverse populations |
| Need to move to evidence-based prosecution: – Strangulation – Identifying primary aggressor | Training based on known best practices Strangulations should be prosecuted as felonies (deadly force); police officers can serve as experts Collect evidence so that DV cases can be prosecuted without victim participation |
| Need for greater understanding of victims’ circumstances, actions, and responses | Community education on the impact of batterer manipulation, why victims don’t leave abusive relationships and/or cooperate with prosecution Remove barriers in the systems Use trauma-informed practices with victims |
| Need for more systemwide understanding of protection orders, Amy’s Law, and lethality factors | Systemwide Training |
| Need for more coordination between criminal and civil systems | Community conversations to improve communication and collaboration Identifying opportunities for cross-training |
| Services for children who are abused and exposed to violence, who are at risk of themselves becoming abusers and/or juvenile offenders | Identifying existing resources and gaps |
| Privacy issues related to the use of body worn cameras and video by the parties | Community education on what is happening, best practices, and the law |
| Pre-trial issues: Bond, Bail, and Electronic Monitoring | Community education on what is happening, best practices, and the law |
| Everyone is a potential first responder | Training for first responders, broadly defined |
With generous funding from:
Co-Sponsored By:
Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio