Courts must be attuned to the danger victims face from taking court action when leaving the abuser. In his book, Why Do They Kill?: Men Who Murder Their Intimate Partners, David Adams found that victims are particularly fearful of the offenders' adverse responses to court actions. He cites a study of 350 domestic violence cases handled in Quincy Massachusetts courts, which found:

"[V]ictims' dissatisfaction [with initial police or court response] was strongly correlated with whether they believed that their concerns were respected by the police, prosecutors, and judges. Paramount among these concerns was the victim's safety and fears of offender retribution in response to court actions…. The Quincy study found that, overall, victims were satisfied with strong and consistent court actions, since these appear to deter ongoing violence by their partners and ex-partners..." (emphasis added).

— Adams, Why Do They Kill? (2007) at 261-262.

The evidence from all the studies and materials cited in this module is overwhelming. Abusers who sexually assaulted their intimate partners during the relationship often continue to do so post-separation. Men who were only physically violent during the relationship may initiate sexual violence when the victim tries to or does leave. And, in a last drastic step to maintain control over the victim, the abuser may go so far as murder. Intimate partner sexual abuse heightens the risk of escalating violence and all types of lethality ─ femicide, child murder, suicide of the victim and the abuser and murder of third parties ─ when the victim tries to leave the relationship. Thus, courts need to know whether there is sexual violence in the relationship in order to undertake informed risk assessment at all points in the proceeding. See Orders of Protection, Pretrial Release and Dispositions.

Eliciting information about this aspect of domestic violence can be difficult, but as the Conference of State Court Administrators observed in their policy paper, "In order to craft meaningful court orders, judges, attorneys and court administrators must have a full picture of the cases in front of them." (Conference of State Court Administrators, Position Paper on Safety and Accountability: State Courts and Domestic Violence, November 2004.)

Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model

In 2005, staff at the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center in Newburyport, MA worked to form the Greater Newburyport Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) in response to the murder of one of their clients. The Crisis Center staff identified three gaps within their response system:

• No process to identify offenders who pose the greatest risk of harm
• Lack of a formal communication process and coordination across systems
• An underlying assumption that victims most at risk of lethal assault would seek safety in shelters

The DVHRT model is based on Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell’s research on intimate partner femicide which established risk factors, including forced sex by the perpetrator, as well as protective factors. Dr. Campbell’s research demonstrates that the escalation of domestic violence to lethal levels follows predictable patterns. In response, the DVHRT model uses a three-pronged approach:

• Early identification of high risk offenders through risk assessment
• Individualized, multidisciplinary response to high risk cases
• Coordinated monitoring and containment of offenders

In the 10 years leading up to the implementation of the DVHRT model, there had been approximately 1 intimate partner homicide per year in the Greater Newburyport Area. Since its implementation in 2005, there have been no homicides in the communities participating in the project. For more information, see the DVHRT website (http://www.dvhrt.org/about) and read Rachel Louise Snyder’s piece in The New Yorker, A Raised Hand: Can a new approach curb domestic homicide? (Source: Greater Newburyport Domestic Violence High Risk Team: Safety and Accountability Report 2005-2013 (2013).)

Additionally, the Center for Court Innovation (CCI) has developed the Domestic Violence Risk Factor Guide for Civil Courts Project. By creating two risk factor guide templates, one for self-represented litigants and one for judges, which highlight sexual violence as a factor, the CCI’s goal is to increase the capacity of civil judges and self-represented litigants to identify and respond to domestic violence risk factors in civil protective order hearings. To learn more, please see the CCI’s Implementation Manual.