System Response to Intimate Partner Violence: Coordinated Community Response

To combat intimate partner violence more effectively, intimate partner violence organizations and law enforcement agencies have developed a template for more formalized collaborations, now commonly referred to as a Coordinated Community Response (CCR). A CCR to intimate partner violence was initially developed to focus on reforms in law enforcement, prosecution, judicial response, probation, and victim services responses to survivors and perpetrators. CCR teams regularly contain members from intimate partner violence and sexual assault agencies, law enforcement, social service agencies, health and mental health agencies, prosecution, and courts. These multistakeholder efforts allow for cross-discipline input in creating local approaches to preventing and responding to intimate partner violence. They also provide opportunities for improved communication among stakeholders, cross-training, referral facilitation, and avenues to address weaknesses or gaps in service provision. Research has shown that CCRs are more effective when they are interdisciplinary and integrated throughout the community. This chapter will describe the history and development of the CCR and models that inform the CCR framework. The chapter will identify specific essential stakeholders and the roles of different stakeholders in a CCR in preventing and responding to intimate partner violence. The chapter will provide a comprehensive review of the data on the effectiveness of CCRs, describe approaches to assessment, and discuss limitations and areas in need of further research regarding CCRs.