Domestic Violence - Research and Theory on Domestic Violence

Research helps us to better understand why people abuse their intimate partner, their spouse, their child, or their parent. Public Safety personnel need to be well grounded in theorretical reasons for DV so they can better appreciate and resolve DV problems they encounter. Due to the complex nature of the Public Safety business, and the range of contact types we may have with the abusers as well as the victims, we need to examine why DV occures from a wide range of perspectives so we will be as inclusive as we can of all the different possibilities. We can measure DV by how often it happens, when it happens, what type happens, and what the frequency of different types is. 

By studying the agencies involved and the outcome of different methods of dealing with DV we can better appreciate those methods which yirled the better results. That helps us shape our responding organizations,
spend the money where it realizes the best return on investment, and accom0plishes something toward our efforts for reduction of harm being done in our communities. 

Research is important because it provides a method through which we can reconcile each person's personal reality with experiential reality. Through applying scientific methods we can observe, record information, document our research, provide information to others, replicate studies so we don't overgeneralize, and prevent selective observation, and illogical reasoning. Today we will introduce you to common research methods information sources guiding our criminal justice
role in combating family violence. Criminal justice research is just lately being used
for improving efficiency and determining whether programs achieve their intended goals.

This training program is a public service of The American Public Safety Training Institute found at www.tapsti.org.