Domestic Violence

A central goal of U.S. social welfare policy is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential as productive adults. Yet it is increasingly clear that where children live plays a central role in determining their life chances. This paper provides an overview of The Urban Institute's Program on Neighborhoods and Youth Development, which is dedicated to understanding the relationships between neighborhood-level factors and the well-being and development of children and youth and identifying and evaluating place-based, community-wide strategies to help children grow up to reach their full potential as adults.

This report investigates the relationship between alcohol availability, type of alcohol establishment, distribution policies and violence and disorder at the block group level in the District of Columbia. We test whether density of alcohol outlets influences: (1) aggravated assault incidents, (2) calls for service for social "disorder" offenses, and (3) calls for service for a domestic incident, and examine variation in outcomes by time of day/day of week. Spatial econometric regression models are estimated using an information theoretic approach. The findings indicate that on-premise outlets, but not off-premise outlets are a significant predictor of aggravated assault.

The Judicial Oversight Demonstration (JOD) was designed to test the feasibility and impact of a coordinated community response to intimate partner violence (IPV) that placed the courts and justice agencies in a central role. The Urban Institute conducted a detailed process and impact evaluation in three sites. The demonstration received mostly positive responses from justice system agencies, service providers, offenders, and victims. However, reductions in repeat violence did not occur in all sites. The mixed results indicate that the most effective justice system responses to IPV must include a focus on protecting victims, close monitoring of offenders, and rapid responses with penalties when violation of court-ordered conditions are detected.

In this commentary, senior research associate Laudan Aron explores the dark side of a booming business -- matching American men with foreign women -- and what should be done to protect "mail-order brides."

John Roman, a senior research associate in the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, explores the challenges interpreting increases in the FBI's crime statistics for 2005.