Improving access to domestic violence support services leads to a more efficient use of police resources
A wide variety of public services exists to provide support and help to victims of domestic violence. These services include counselling and emotional support, refuge housing and safety planning. However, lack of information regarding what services are available or how to access them creates significant barriers, preventing many victims who would benefit from these services from using them.
New research by Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner (University of Surrey), Jesse Matheson (University of Sheffield), and Reka Plugor (University of Leicester) finds that reducing these barriers leads not only to greater use of these public services, but also leads to a more efficient use of police resources.
This research analyses a large randomised intervention that assigns a caseworker to victims of police-reported domestic violence. The caseworker contacts victims within 24 hours of a police-reported incident, informs victims of the available services, and provides assistance in accessing the services. The personalised support provided by the caseworker significantly reduces barriers for the victim to public support services.
The researchers find that victims who received help in accessing public services were not more likely to engage with police to pursue charges against perpetrators of violence. In fact, the intervention led to an 18% decrease in statements given to the police from victims. This is a surprising result; it contradicts the view that police services and public support services complement one another. Rather, for many victims these services are substitutes.
Victim statements are an important piece of evidence in building a domestic violence case. This raises the concern that the decrease in statements following the intervention will lead to fewer perpetrators facing criminal charges. However, this is not the case. The authors look at perpetrator arrest, charge, and sentencing two years following the intervention, and find no change in these outcomes.
These findings reveal an important mechanism about how barriers influence resource use. Barriers keep some victims from accessing public support services regardless of the benefits these services offer. As a result, some of these victims will engage with police and provide a victim statement. However, many of these cases do not result in charges against the perpetrator, either because of insufficient evidence or because the victim drops their support for a criminal conviction. When the intervention removes barriers, these victims use public support services instead of police services. This is a positive outcome as victims receive the support that they really want and it reduces pressure on scarce police resources.
Consistent with this conclusion, the intervention is associated with an 80% decrease in withdrawn statements. In addition to increasing the use of public support services, the intervention increases victim-reported well-being, and improves victim-reported satisfaction with the police.
More details are available at the project website: www.prj360.org.
