Partnerships between the business community and the
criminal justice system to enhance the safety of women
in the community.

* Community policing to reduce and prevent violence
against women.

Initiatives within police departments to address the prob-
lem of police officers who are perpetrators of domestic
violence.

Collaboration among advocates working with victims of
domestic violence, domestic violence programs, child
protection service agencies and criminal justice agencies
to provide support and resources to battered women and
their children.

Development and implementation of coordinated initia-

tives to address incidents of stalking occurring in a
domestic violence context.

ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARDS

Eligible grantees for this Program are States, Indian
tribal governments, and units of local government.

For the purposes of this Program, a unit of local gov-
ernment is any city, county, township, town, borough,
parish, village, or other general-purpose political sub-
division of a State; an Indian tribe that performs law
enforcement functions as determined by the Secretary
of the Interior; or, for the purpose of assistance eligibil-
ity, any agency of the District of Columbia government
or the United States Government performing law
enforcement functions in and for the District of
Columbia and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
By statute, police departments; pre-trial service agen-
cies; district or city attorneys’ offices; sheriffs' depart-
ments; courts; probation and parole departments;
shelters; non-profit, non-governmental victim service
agencies, and universities are not units of local gov-
ernment for the purposes of this grant program.
These agencies or organizations may administer grant
funds and assume responsibility for the development
and implementation of the project, but they must apply
through a State, Indian tribal government or a unit of
local government.


* Coordinate computer tracking systems to ensureommu-
nication between police, prosecutors, and both criminal
and family courts;

Strengthen legal advocacy service programs for victims
of domestic violence by providing complete information
and support for a victim of domestic violence as the
case against her abuser moves through the criminal jus-
tice system; and

* Educate judges and others responsible for handling of
domestic violence cases, in criminal, tribal, and other
courts about domestic violence to ensure victim safety
and offender accountability through proactive judicial
management.

Special Interest Categories

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is interested in
funding States, Indian tribal governments, and units of
local government that have implemented--or plan to
implement--promising approaches that respond to
domestic violence as a serious violation of criminal
law. Although applications that address any of the
statutory program purposes outlined above are eligible
for funding, OJP is especially interested in supporting
new projects or the expansion of current arrest grant
activities that also address a Special Interest
Category. All applicants are required to collaborate
with non-profit, non-governmental domestic violence
programs in the development of applications and in
the implementation of local projects.*

The following list of special interest categories does
not imply any ordering of priorities among categories.

* Enforcement of protection orders and implementation of
the full faith and credit provision of the Violence Against
Women Act.

Domestic violence courts that employ frequent and
proactive judicial monitoring, sanctions and intensive
supervision to manage offender behavior and ensure
victim safety.

Community-driven initiatives to address violence
against women among diverse, traditionally
underserved populations.

* Indian tribal govemments that do not have private, non-profit domestic violence
Programs may negotiate altemative arrangements with OUP.


To be eligible to receive funding through this Program,
applicants must:

(1) certify that their laws or official policies encourage or
mandate arrests of domestic violence offenders based on
probable cause that an offense has been committed.
These laws and official policies must also encourage or
mandate arrest of domestic violence offenders who violate
the terms of a valid and outstanding protection order;

(2) demonstrate that their laws, policies, or practices and
their training programs discourage dual arrests of offender
and victim;

(3) certify that their laws, policies, or practices prohibit
issuance of mutual restraining orders of protection except in
cases where both spouses file a claim and the court makes
detailed findings of fact indicating that both spouses acted
primarily as aggressors and that neither spouse acted pri-
marily in self-defense; and

(4) certify that their laws, policies, or practices do not
require, in connection with the prosecution of any misde-
meanor or felony domestic violence offense, that the
abused person bear the costs associated with filing criminal
charges or the service of such charges on an abuser, or
that the abused person bear the costs associated with the
issuance or service of a warrant, protection order, or wit-
ness subpoena.

For more information about this Grant Program,
please contact:

Violence Against Women Grants Office
Office of Justice Programs
810 Seventh Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20531
Telephone: (202)307-6026
Fax: (202) 305-2589

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawgo


US J 26,31:AR 6

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Violence Against Women Grants Office

Grants to
Encourage

Arrest
Policies

Program Brief


INTRODUCTION

The Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies encourage
jurisdictions to implement mandatory or pro-arrest
policies as an effective intervention that is part of a
coordinated community response to domestic vio-
lence. The Program assumes that the arrest of a
batterer will leverage the coercive and persuasive
power of the criminal justice system to ensure victim
safety and manage the behavior of abusive,

violent offenders.

Arrest, accompanied by a thorough investigation and
meaningful sanctions, demonstrates to the offender
that he has committed a serious crime and communi-
cates to the victim that she does not have to endure
the offender's abuse. Arrest must be followed by
immediate arraignment and a thorough investigation.
Orders of protection and conditions of release must
be proactively monitored. Cases must be vigorously
prosecuted. Designated dockets must be created to
enhance the management of offender behavior and
expedite the scheduling of trials. The violent behavior
of domestic violence offenders must be managed
through frequent judicial monitoring and appropriate
sanctions. Probation and parole agencies must
develop strategies--in collaboration with local law
enforcement--for monitoring offenders and strictly
ensuring that the terms and conditions of probation or
parole are met.

At each juncture in the criminal justice process, the
actions of all partners in the system should be guided
by concerns for victim safety. Mechanisms should
be put in place to allow the voices and experiences of
women who are victims of domestic violence, particu-
larly those who have sought assistance from the crim-
inal justice system, to inform the development of poli-
cies, protocols, procedures, and programs. These
mechanisms should ensure that the diverse experi-
ences of abused women are considered--particularly
the experiences of women of color, immigrant women,
the elderly, the disabled and women from other tradi-
tionally underserved parts of the community.


Criminal justice agencies must collaborate among
themselves and in formal partnership with victim
advocates from nonprofit, nongovernmental domestic
violence programs, including local shelters, advocacy
organizations and domestic violence coalitions to
ensure that victim safety is of paramount considera-
tion in the development of any strategy to address
domestic violence.

Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies challenge victim
advocates, police officers, pre-trial service personnel,
prosecutors, judges and other court personnel,
probation and parole officers, and community
members to work together to craft solutions to
overcome domestic violence.

SCOPE OF THE PROGRAM

Ensuring victim safety and offender accountability are
the guiding principles underlying the Grants to
Encourage Arrest Policies. The scope of the Grants
to Encourage Arrest Policies Program includes the
statutory program purposes and the special interest
categories outlined below. Proposed projects need
not address multiple program purposes or special
interest categories to receive support.

Program Purposes

The Violence Against Women Act directs that Grants
to Encourage Arrest Policies be used to:

* Implement mandatory arrest or pro-arrest programs and
policies in police departments, including mandatory
arrest programs or pro-arrest programs and policies for
protection order violations;

Develop policies and training programs in police depart-
ments and other criminal justice agencies to improve
tracking of cases involving domestic violence;

* Centralize and coordinate police enforcement,
prosecution, probation, parole or judicial responsibility
for domestic violence cases in groups or units of police
officers, prosecutors, probation and parole officers
or judges;