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	About the Battered Women's Justice Project The Battered Women's Justice Project promotes systemic change within community organizations and governmental agencies engaged in the civil and criminal justice response to domestic violence in order to hold these institutions accountable for the goals of safety and security for battered women and their children. BWJP Criminal and Civil Office National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women Special Projects Other Alliances The BWJP Criminal and Civil Justice Office The BWJP Criminal and Civil Office (newly merged on October 1, 2006) focuses on how effective intervention requires inter-agency coordination and policy development that guides individual practitioners in the use of arrest, prosecution, sentencing, victim safeguards, and batterers' intervention programs. The office handles information on advocacy for victims of domestic violence by military personnel. This office also focuses on civil justice issues by providing important leadership aimed at enhancing justice for battered women and their children in the civil legal arena by improving battered women's access to civil justice options and quality legal representation in civil court processes. Services: BWJP's Criminal and Civil Justice Office offers training, technical assistance, and consultation on the most promising practices of the criminal and civil justice system in addressing domestic violence. Criminal and Civil Justice staff can provide information and analyses on effective policing, prosecuting, sentencing, and monitoring of domestic violence offenders, as well as protection orders, confidentiality issues, divorce and custody, and separation violence. Offices: The Battered Women's Justice Project is a nationally-recognized partnership and collaboration between the programs of Minnesota Program Development, Inc and the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. BWJP is comprised of two offices: the Criminal and Civil Justice Office (coordinated by Minnesota Program Development, Inc.) and the Defense Office (coordinated by the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women). While both offices can provide training, technical assistance, and other resources on domestic violence related to civil court access and representation, the criminal justice response, and battered women's self-defense issues, each office has expertise and resources for their specific subject area. BWJP does not take on individual cases (see brochure for more details). Technical assistance may be provided on the following issues: Civil Justice Issues: Protection orders Separation violence Divorce and support Custody Mediation Confidentiality Safety planning Welfare and the Violence Against Women Act Criminal Justice Issues: Legal advocacy in the criminal court Dedicated courts Judicial education and monitoring Restorative justice Marital rape Prosecution of batterers Stalking Domestic violence in the military 2104 Fourth Avenue South, Suite B Minneapolis, MN 55404 Email: technicalassistance@bwjp.org Phone: (800) 903-0111, ext. 1 (toll free) Phone: (612) 824-8768 Fax: (612) 824-8965 Back to Top National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women This Office provides customized, case-specific technical assistance to battered women charged with crimes and their defense teams (attorneys, advocates and expert witnesses). The Defense Center works on cases that involve women who have injured or killed their batterer in self-defense; battered women who have been coerced into criminal activity; women charged with "failing to protect" their children from their batterer’s violence; and women who charge with parental kidnapping or custodial interference after fleeing with their child(ren) to protect themselves or their children from their batterer’s violence. Technical assistance may be offered in the following areas: Defense Issues: Criminal cases involving battered women charged with crimes (at all stages of the criminal proceedings) Use of expert witnesses in criminal cases involving battered women defendants (including information about expert testimony about battering and its effects) Partner homicide information Incarcerated battered women Prison and jail support groups for battered women Clemency Battered women's use of violence National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women 125 S. 9th Street Suite 302 Philadelphia, PA 19107 Phone: (800) 903-0111, ext. 3 (toll free) Phone: (215) 351-0010 Fax: (215) 351-0779 Website: http://www.ncdbw.org/ We accept collect calls from women in in prison or jail. Back to Top Special Projects of BWJP The National Center on Full Faith and Credit: The Full Faith and Credit Office provides ongoing technical assistance and training on full faith and credit, federal firearms prohibitions related specifically to domestic violence, federal domestic violence and stalking crimes, and inter-jurisdictional child custody cases involving domestic violence. Audiences include law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, court administrators and other court personnel, civil attorneys, victim advocates, and others who work with victims of domestic violence and stalking. National Center on Full Faith and Credit 1901 North Fort Myer Drive Suite 1011 Arlington, VA 22209 Phone: (800) 903-0111, ext. 2 (toll-free) Phone: (703) 312-7922 Fax: (703) 312-7966 Military Projects: The BWJP Criminal and Civil Justice Office provides technical assistance for the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)-funded Military/Civilian Coordinated Community Response Demonstration Project. This initiative will create guidelines for coordinating the response of civilian and military agencies to domestic violence cases involving military personnel. These guidelines will enhance victim safety and autonomy, effectively hold perpetrators accountable for ending their violence, and provide safety and support to children exposed to violence in these families. With local CCR Site Coordinators, the Criminal and Civil Office is developing models from the experiences of two jurisdictions in Kentucky and Florida, each located near a sizable military installation where significant numbers of these cases are handled annually and where issues relating to civilian/military coordination arise on a regular basis. The assessment and findings phase of the project which will conclude in June 2006, will be summarized in A Guide to Developing a Military/Civilian Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence, which will be available on the Criminal and Civil Office's website by the end of 2006. Safety Audits: The safety audit, developed by Ellen Pence of Praxis International, formerly of the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, Minnesota, is a systematic investigation of one or more points of institutional action on a case, and the ways in which actions by different personnel are coordinated to produce case outcomes. A safety audit explores how institutions handle case processing and helps expose the ways standard practices obscure or diminish women’s experiences of violence. Using Pence’s safety audit model, BWJP provides safety audit consultation and training to communities wishing to audit criminal or civil justice systems – for example, police dispatch, prosecution, probation, judiciary, jail systems or protective orders. In addition, because the Office on Violence Against Women has approved the safety audit as a way for its “Grants to Encourage Arrest” grantees to evaluate their justice systems, BWJP provides training to these grantees as well. BWJP can also help communities identify their “audit-readiness.” Back to Top BWJP also partners with the following organizations: The Domestic Violence Resource Network Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, Administration for Children and Families, the Domestic Violence Resource Network strives to strengthen the existing support systems serving battered women, their children, and other victims of domestic violence. Each resource center partners with community-based domestic violence programs; state coalitions; local, state, and federal government agencies; Indian tribal organizations; policy makers; and others involved in assisting victims of domestic violence to identify and respond to emerging information and technical assistance gaps. In addition to promoting research and providing leadership in the development of effective domestic violence public policy, the resource network provides: comprehensive fact sheets, specialized information packets and other publications addressing a range of domestic violence issues; materials and technical support around the development and replication of model programs, legislation, and exemplary practices; and technical assistance, training, and referrals to other organizations to assist advocates, programs, and communities to meet local needs. Alianza Latina Nacional Para Erradicar La Violencia Domestica/National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence (Alianza) Alianza's mission is to promote understanding, sustain dialogue, and generate solutions to move toward the elimination of domestic violence affecting Latino communities, with an understanding of sacredness of all relations and communities. Phone: (800) 342-9908 Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence A project of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, a national organization advocating for the health and well being of all Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. The project seeks to eliminate domestic violence in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities by 1) increasing awareness of the extent and depth of the problem; 2) making culturally-specific issues visible; 3) strengthening community models of prevention and intervention; 4) identifying and expanding resources; and 5) informing and promoting research and policy. Phone: (415) 954-9988 x315 Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community A project of the University of Minnesota School of Social Work The Institute seeks to 1) create a community of African American scholars and practitioners working in the area of violence in the African American community; 2) raise community consciousness of the impact of violence in the African American community; 3) inform public policy; 4) organize and facilitate local and national conferences and training forums; and 5) identify community needs and recommend best practices. Phone: (877) 643-8222 Women of Color Network (WOCN) The Women of Color Network is a national grassroots initiative created to meet the need for capacity-building among women of color domestic violence and sexual assault advocates and the communities of color they serve. The WOCN exists for the sole purpose of enhancing and drawing upon the single greatest untapped resource in addressing the unique, interlocking issues of race, class and gender in communities of color. Phone: (614) 995-2439 Back to Top
About BWJP's Criminal and Civil Justice Office Services Resources For Arrest Grantees Contact BWJP's Criminal and Civil Justice Office Can't find what you're looking for? Site Map
Battered Women's Justice Project/Criminal and Civil Justice Office 1801 Nicollet Ave. South, Suite 102 • Minneapolis, MN 55403 p 1(800) 903-0111, ext. 1 or (612) 824-8768 • f (612) 824-8965 technicalassistance@bwjp.org
funded by the Office on Violence Against Women, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services

The Battered Women's Justice Project promotes systemic change within community organizations and governmental agencies engaged in the civil and criminal justice response to domestic violence in order to hold these institutions accountable for the goals of safety and security for battered women and their children.

The BWJP Criminal and Civil Justice Office

The BWJP Criminal and Civil Office (newly merged on October 1, 2006) focuses on how effective intervention requires inter-agency coordination and policy development that guides individual practitioners in the use of arrest, prosecution, sentencing, victim safeguards, and batterers' intervention programs. The office handles information on advocacy for victims of domestic violence by military personnel. This office also focuses on civil justice issues by providing important leadership aimed at enhancing justice for battered women and their children in the civil legal arena by improving battered women's access to civil justice options and quality legal representation in civil court processes.

Services: BWJP's Criminal and Civil Justice Office offers training, technical assistance, and consultation on the most promising practices of the criminal and civil justice system in addressing domestic violence. Criminal and Civil Justice staff can provide information and analyses on effective policing, prosecuting, sentencing, and monitoring of domestic violence offenders, as well as protection orders, confidentiality issues, divorce and custody, and separation violence.

Offices: The Battered Women's Justice Project is a nationally-recognized partnership and collaboration between the programs of Minnesota Program Development, Inc and the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. BWJP is comprised of two offices: the Criminal and Civil Justice Office (coordinated by Minnesota Program Development, Inc.) and the Defense Office (coordinated by the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women). While both offices can provide training, technical assistance, and other resources on domestic violence related to civil court access and representation, the criminal justice response, and battered women's self-defense issues, each office has expertise and resources for their specific subject area. BWJP does not take on individual cases (see brochure for more details).

Email: technicalassistance@bwjp.org

Phone: (800) 903-0111, ext. 1 (toll free)

Phone: (612) 824-8768

Fax: (612) 824-8965

National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women

This Office provides customized, case-specific technical assistance to battered women charged with crimes and their defense teams (attorneys, advocates and expert witnesses). The Defense Center works on cases that involve women who have injured or killed their batterer in self-defense; battered women who have been coerced into criminal activity; women charged with "failing to protect" their children from their batterer’s violence; and women who charge with parental kidnapping or custodial interference after fleeing with their child(ren) to protect themselves or their children from their batterer’s violence.

Technical assistance may be offered in the following areas:

Defense Issues:

Criminal cases involving battered women charged with crimes (at all stages of the criminal proceedings)
Use of expert witnesses in criminal cases involving battered women defendants (including information about expert testimony about battering and its effects)
Partner homicide information
Incarcerated battered women
Prison and jail support groups for battered women
Clemency
Battered women's use of violence

Fax: (215) 351-0779

Website: http://www.ncdbw.org/

We accept collect calls from women in in prison or jail.

Special Projects of BWJP

The National Center on Full Faith and Credit:

The Full Faith and Credit Office provides ongoing technical assistance and training on full faith and credit, federal firearms prohibitions related specifically to domestic violence, federal domestic violence and stalking crimes, and inter-jurisdictional child custody cases involving domestic violence. Audiences include law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, court administrators and other court personnel, civil attorneys, victim advocates, and others who work with victims of domestic violence and stalking.

National Center on Full Faith and Credit

1901 North Fort Myer Drive

Suite 1011

Arlington, VA 22209

Phone: (800) 903-0111, ext. 2 (toll-free)

Phone: (703) 312-7922

Fax: (703) 312-7966

Military Projects:

The BWJP Criminal and Civil Justice Office provides technical assistance for the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)-funded Military/Civilian Coordinated Community Response Demonstration Project. This initiative will create guidelines for coordinating the response of civilian and military agencies to domestic violence cases involving military personnel. These guidelines will enhance victim safety and autonomy, effectively hold perpetrators accountable for ending their violence, and provide safety and support to children exposed to violence in these families. With local CCR Site Coordinators, the Criminal and Civil Office is developing models from the experiences of two jurisdictions in Kentucky and Florida, each located near a sizable military installation where significant numbers of these cases are handled annually and where issues relating to civilian/military coordination arise on a regular basis. The assessment and findings phase of the project which will conclude in June 2006, will be summarized in A Guide to Developing a Military/Civilian Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence, which will be available on the Criminal and Civil Office's website by the end of 2006.

Safety Audits:

The safety audit, developed by Ellen Pence of Praxis International, formerly of the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, Minnesota, is a systematic investigation of one or more points of institutional action on a case, and the ways in which actions by different personnel are coordinated to produce case outcomes. A safety audit explores how institutions handle case processing and helps expose the ways standard practices obscure or diminish women’s experiences of violence.

Using Pence’s safety audit model, BWJP provides safety audit consultation and training to communities wishing to audit criminal or civil justice systems – for example, police dispatch, prosecution, probation, judiciary, jail systems or protective orders. In addition, because the Office on Violence Against Women has approved the safety audit as a way for its “Grants to Encourage Arrest” grantees to evaluate their justice systems, BWJP provides training to these grantees as well. BWJP can also help communities identify their “audit-readiness.”

BWJP also partners with the following organizations:

The Domestic Violence Resource Network

Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, Administration for Children and Families, the Domestic Violence Resource Network strives to strengthen the existing support systems serving battered women, their children, and other victims of domestic violence. Each resource center partners with community-based domestic violence programs; state coalitions; local, state, and federal government agencies; Indian tribal organizations; policy makers; and others involved in assisting victims of domestic violence to identify and respond to emerging information and technical assistance gaps.

In addition to promoting research and providing leadership in the development of effective domestic violence public policy, the resource network provides: comprehensive fact sheets, specialized information packets and other publications addressing a range of domestic violence issues; materials and technical support around the development and replication of model programs, legislation, and exemplary practices; and technical assistance, training, and referrals to other organizations to assist advocates, programs, and communities to meet local needs.

Alianza Latina Nacional Para Erradicar La Violencia Domestica/National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence (Alianza)

Alianza's mission is to promote understanding, sustain dialogue, and generate solutions to move toward the elimination of domestic violence affecting Latino communities, with an understanding of sacredness of all relations and communities.
Phone: (800) 342-9908

Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence
A project of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, a national organization advocating for the health and well being of all Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S.

The project seeks to eliminate domestic violence in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities by 1) increasing awareness of the extent and depth of the problem; 2) making culturally-specific issues visible; 3) strengthening community models of prevention and intervention; 4) identifying and expanding resources; and 5) informing and promoting research and policy.
Phone: (415) 954-9988 x315

Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community
A project of the University of Minnesota School of Social Work

The Institute seeks to 1) create a community of African American scholars and practitioners working in the area of violence in the African American community; 2) raise community consciousness of the impact of violence in the African American community; 3) inform public policy; 4) organize and facilitate local and national conferences and training forums; and 5) identify community needs and recommend best practices.
Phone: (877) 643-8222

Women of Color Network (WOCN)

The Women of Color Network is a national grassroots initiative created to meet the need for capacity-building among women of color domestic violence and sexual assault advocates and the communities of color they serve. The WOCN exists for the sole purpose of enhancing and drawing upon the single greatest untapped resource in addressing the unique, interlocking issues of race, class and gender in communities of color.
Phone: (614) 995-2439