The Cook County Target Abuser Call (TAC): An Evaluation of a Specialized Domestic Violence Court
| 2000-WT-VX-0003 | |
| Grantee: | University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. |
| Principal Investigator: | Carolyn Copps Hartley (University of Iowa) |
| Title: | The Cook County Target Abuser Call (TAC): An Evaluation of a Specialized Domestic Violence Court |
| Monitor: | Katherine Darke |
| The goal of the project is to evaluate the TAC (Cook County Target Abuser Call) program, with regard to conviction rates, victim appearance rates, offender recidivism, offender compliance with court-ordered treatment, and victim safety, satisfaction, and sense of empowerment. This evaluation will compare three court system responses to domestic violence, which vary in the amount of outreach and resources provided to victims and in the coordination of court personnel: (1) the TAC program, (2) a vertical prosecution program, and (3) a general domestic violence court call. The study will recruit about 300 intimate partner domestic violence cases from each of the three court programs for a nine-month period. Data sources will include in-depth interviews assessing victims' experiences with the prosecution process, courthouse victim surveys, court and service provider records, case tracking, and observation of courtroom interactions. Each victim will be surveyed when she comes to the courthouse for her assigned court date and will be followed for 6 to 12 months. In addition, a sub-sample of 50 victims will be selected to participate in an in-depth life history interview. The study team will also observe criminal justice personnel interactions with victims in all three prosecution groups. | |
Date Entered: November 29, 2007