Domestic Violence Legislation and its Implementation

OVERVIEW OF GLOBAL GOOD PRACTICES
ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESPONSE SYSTEMS
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Duluth Model (Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Programme or DAIP): The
Duluth Model is considered to have set a benchmark in coordinated multi-agency intervention
in cases of domestic violence. This model was conceived and implemented in a small city
of Minnesota in 1980-81, with 11 agencies forming the initiative. 10 The Duluth Model, which
has since been replicated in almost every country, was initiated with the intention of bringing
together criminal and civil justice agencies to work together in responding to women’s needs.
Although the Duluth Model is usually described as a batterer intervention programme, a
“no drop prosecution” programme or a “mandatory arrest” scheme, in reality, all of these form
part of the key undertakings of the initiative. In fact, as Ellen Pence 11 and Martha McMahon
point out, “the Duluth project should be seen as a system of networks, agreements, processes
and applied principles created by the local shelter movement, criminal justice agencies, and
human service programs that were developed in a small northern Minnesota city over a fi fteen
year period. It is still a project in the making”. 12 The guiding principle of the programme
is ‘victim safety’, and the various initiatives are conceived to ensure this goal. An
evaluation of the programme shows that ‘victim safety’ is combined with transforming the
criminal justice system response, which is traditionally not centred on the principle of ‘victim
safety’. 13 Hence, evolving a common understanding of ‘victim safety’ forms a major part of the
coordinated response of Duluth. 14
The Duluth Model is based on four primary strategies of intervention: 15
• Reform at the basic infrastructural levels of the multiple agencies involved,
ensuring that workers are coordinated to enhance effectiveness in service delivery and
adhere to inter-agency agreements. Standardization of practices takes place by laying
down certain core principles to be followed by workers, including protocols, systems to
ensure accountability, etc,
• The overall strategy should have a survivor focus, with independent survivor advocacy
and rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators,
• The agencies must be involved as collaborating partners. Small ad hoc problem
solving groups, training committees, evaluation projects, and regular meetings are used
to coordinate interventions,
• Swift initiatives that hold the perpetrator accountable for violence is crucial to the
Duluth Model’s success. It is here that the model uses initiatives like mandatory arrest,
tracking of offenders through DAIP, evidence-based prosecution, emergency housing
for women, etc.
10 These included 911 emergency services of police, fi re and ambulance; police, sheriff’s and prosecutors’ offi ces, probation, the
criminal and civil court benches, the local battered women’s shelter, three mental health agencies and a newly created coordinating
organization called the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP). .
11 Ellen Pence heads the National Training Project, Duluth and has extensively written and advocated about the Duluth Project.
12 Ellen Pence and Martha McMahon; A Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence; January, 1997.
13 Criminal laws and mechanisms are meant to arrest perpetrators, conduct investigation and prosecute; hence, it is correct to say that
criminal justice response focuses on the perpetrator rather than the complainant.
14 The Duluth project is based on the agreement that those who intervene, whether they be police offi cers, therapists, judges, or clergy,
must intervene in ways that take the context of the violence and how it is experienced by the survivor into account.
15 http://www.theduluthmodel.org/duluthmodel.php.