The Domestic Violence Assessment Center: Reducing the Impact of Domestic Violence in Shelby County

March 7, 2011

Domestic Violence (DV) is serious problem in Shelby County; among aggressive crimes in the City of Memphis, DV accounts for 16% of all murders, 39% of all aggravated assaults, and 60% of all simple assaults (Janikowski & Reed, 2009).  Not only does domestic violence affect the individuals involved, but it also affects the children that witness it. Children in these household are directly affected by witnessing the violence and indirectly affected because DV impairs their mothers’ and fathers’ effectiveness as parents.

Henning, Jones, and Holdford (2005) found that 67% of men in Shelby County who are arrested for DV have children under 18 years of age, with 35% of those children being under 5-years-old. And although most offenders tend to believe that their children are not affected by the DV in their home:

  • 62% reported that children might have overheard arguments,
  • 52% argued in front of the children,
  • 14% involved children in arguments, and
  • 17% indicated that one parent threatened to take the children away from the other.

Even more troubling these researchers found that victims reported that 71% of children witnessed physical conflict, while 30% reported that their children tried to stop physical conflict. A quarter of children were actually physically abused during a DV incident and 24% of women stated that their partner (DV offenders) physically assaulted them during pregnancy (Henning et al., 2005). Clearly, DV affects children in Shelby County! These children are at greater risk of both physical and psychological maladjustment with life-long effects, including children’s increased risk for violence in romantic adult relationships.

Not only are families negatively affected by DV, but DV burdens the community as a whole. Taxpayers in Shelby County pay over $1.3 million per year to support the legal costs prosecuting offenders, probation services, and victim advocacy (Tennessee Economic Council on Women, 2006). As a means to counter this problem, Shelby County established the Domestic Violence Assessment Center (DVAC) to reduce recidivism of DV offenders. DVAC, a program of the Exchange Club Family Center, began its operations in 1998 and is believed to have the nation’s largest comprehensive database on domestic violence offenders (Holdford, Cook, Stout, & Yarbro, 2007). The purpose of DVAC is to assess offenders risk of DV re-offence in the future using a comprehensive system of information gathering from multiple sources (i.e., offenders, victims, criminal justice system, written assessments, and clinical interviews), treatment recommendations to reduce risk, and support to victims. DV is also associated with child abuse, thus an additional function of DVAC is to assess children’s risk of abuse and recommend services to reduce this risk. In Shelby County, a majority (84%) of offending fathers maintain contact with their children after the offense (Holdford et al., 2007).

The Take-Away:

To develop optimally, children need safe and secure homes with positive parent-child relationships as well as strong, loving relationships between their parents. DV eliminates any feelings of security and impairs children’s development through multiple means. Unfortunately a substantial proportion of children in Shelby County are exposed to this violence. However, Shelby County has made an investment in reducing incidents of domestic violence and reducing the negative effects it has on victims and their children with the creation of DVAC.

Resources:

Holdford, R., Cook, S., Stout, D., & Yarbro, F. (2007). The Domestic Violence Assessment Center. Tennessee Conference of Social Welfare.

Henning, K., Jones, A. R., & Holdford, R. (2005). DV offenders as fathers: Are there reasons for concern?

For more information about DVAC contact the director Robert Holdford at rholdford@exchangeclub.net or 901-276-2200.

Janikowski, R., & Reed, L. (2009, July). Domestic violence trends: City of Memphis January-June, 2006-2009. Operation Safe Community Working Paper 4. Retrieved from: http://www.fscmemphis.com/osc.pdf

Tennessee Economic Council on Women (2006, January). The impact of domestic violence on the Tennessee economy. A Report to the Tennessee General Assembly.  Retrieved from: http://www.tn.gov/sos/ecw/domestic_violence_report.pdf