Tackling Domestic Violence: effective interventions and approaches

The views expressed in this report are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the Home Office (nor do they reflect Government policy). RDS is part of the Home Office. The Home Off i c e 's purpose is to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are p roperly balanced and the protection and security of the public are maintained. RDS is also part of National Statistics (NS). One of the aims of NS is to inform Parliament and the citizen about the state of the nation and provide a window on the work and perf o rm a n c e of government, allowing the impact of government policies and actions to be assessed. T h e re f o re – Research Development and Statistics Directorate exists to improve policy making, decision taking and practice in support of the Home Office purpose and aims, to provide the public and Parliament with information necessary for informed debate and to publish information for future use. In 1998 the Home Office announced the Crime Reduction Programme (CRP), which aimed to develop and implement an integrated approach to reducing crime and making communities safer. As part of this programme the Violence Against Women Initiative (VAWI) was launched in July 2000, and specifically aimed to find out which approaches and practices were effective in supporting victims and tackling domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. Thirty-four multi-agency victim focused pilot projects were funded and aimed to develop and implement a range of interventions for various population groups in a number of different settings and contexts. The projects were originally funded until the end of March 2002; however, 24 of these projects had their funding, and in some cases their evaluations extended until the end of March 2003. A further 24 'Round 2' projects were funded in March 2001; however these were provided with money purely for services and were not evaluated by the Home Office. For evaluation purposes the projects were divided into nine packages, and projects with similar solutions or tactics, or those which were operating in the same contexts, were g rouped together. Seven diff e rent independent evaluation teams were commissioned to assess the projects in terms of their development, impact and cost. The findings from all of the evaluations have been collated and a series of research …