As we move into the fourth year of the Violence Against Women Act, we are entering a new phase of its implementation. Evidence of the success of strategic efforts are beginning to emerge. We know more about what holds promise from the approaches that States, Indian tribal governments, and local jurisdictions are testing.
Strategic efforts require a focus on violence against women as an institutional priority.
It involves the sharing of information across systemic players. Criminal justice practitioners need to continue to step outside of their boxes, rethink and reinvent their roles in the system, and work beyond their institutional boundaries. Across institutions, we have not yet fully exploited the coercive power of the criminal justice system to effectively manage offenders who commit violent crimes against women and ensure the accountability of the system for victim safety. Communication between and among technologies is a critical element of a strategic effort to address violence against women, in particular the intra- and interjurisdictional enforcement of protection orders. To further enhance women's safety, we must encourage criminal justice system leaders to reach out to practitioners in other fields who interact with women who have been victims of violence.