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Program of Community Education for Dealing With Spouse Abuse

NCJ Number
94502
Journal
Journal of Community Psychology Volume: 11 Dated: (July 1983) Pages: 241-252
Author(s)
R C Loeb
Date Published
1983
Length
12 pages
Annotation
A two-phase Wayne County, Mich., program was developed to foster a more efficient community response to spouse abuse, with phase one resulting in a booklet to assist human services workers in providing pertinent information to spouse abuse victims and phase two offering separate training programs for police officers, attorneys and legislators, counselors and clergy, and medical personnel.
Abstract
The first major section of the booklet for human services workers presents the new Michigan legislation on spouse abuse translated into nontechnical language. It includes a description of the conditions under which a police officer may arrest for assault and battery or aggravated assault without a warrant and without witnessing the violation. Attention is also given to preliminary injunctions and violations of statutory peace bond. The booklet's second major section consists of an explanation of the various types of assistance a spouse abuse victim is likely to need and a general description of the services provided to meet those needs. The booklet concludes with a list of reading references. Booklets were distributed to all phase-two training participants as well as to all police departments, social service agencies, and hospitals in the county. The training phase of the program consisted of training seminars for each of the four occupational groups. The basic format of each seminar consisted of a keynote speaker, a film and comments, a panel discussion, two workshops, and a seminar evaluation. The booklet appears to be a valued service, and the training programs were well received by participants, although the number of participants was disappointingly low for some occupational groups. Suggestions for increasing training participation and improving the training programs are offered. Eighteen references are listed.