ACCORDING TO A recent study by researchers at Colgate University and the University of Arkansas, access to legal services, rather than shelters, hotlines or counseling, contributes to decline in domestic violence.

The economic researchers concluded that access to legal services is one of the primary factors contributing to a 21 percent decrease nationally in the reported incidence of domestic violence between 1993 and 1998, according to a report published by the Brennan Center for Justice electronic newsletter.

"The study underscores what we have learned from our DOVE Project clients and volunteers," said Virginia Martin, Associate Executive Director for Legal Services. "Legal representation helps many victims to break free from the cycle of violence." (See sidebar for information on the Bar's Domestic Violence Emergency (DOVE) Project.)

The researchers, economists Amy Farmer and Jill Tiefenthaler, started their study following the U.S. Department of Justice's announcement in 2000 that there had been a decrease in domestic violence. The researchers wanted to identify factors contributing to the decline. Farmer and Tiefenthaler examined the support services available to domestic violence survivors in the counties in which they reside. Surprisingly, they found that shelters, hotlines and counseling programs for battered women had no significant impact on the likelihood of domestic abuse, but that the availability of legal services decreases the incidences of women being battered. Farmer and Tiefenthaler note that while shelters, hotlines and counseling are vitally important crisis-intervention services, they do not offer women certain important alternatives to the abusive relationships, such as replacement of the partner's income. The economists theorize that by helping domestic violence survivors obtain protective orders, custody of their children, child support and sometimes public assistance, legal services programs help the women achieve physical safety and financial security and thus the confidence to leave their abusers.

The economists note that between 1986 and 1994, the number of legal services programs serving victims of domestic violence increased by more than 254 percent, from 336 to 1,190.

Farmer is careful not to downplay the importance of other support services, but said, "Legal services are the most expensive support service, the service to which the fewest women have access, and, according to our research, the only service that decreases the likelihood women will be battered. Since legal services help women achieve economic power and self-sufficiency, they are a good place to spend public money."

Farmer and Tiefenthaler, whose study is forthcoming in Contemporary Economic Policy, also conclude that improvement in women's economic status, and demographic changes such as an aging population and an increasingly better-educated female population, also contributed to the decline in incidents of domestic violence.

Home | About the Bar | For Members | For the Public | Legal Links | Publications | Online Store
Lawyer Referral Service | Law-Related Education | NHBA•CLE | NHBA Insurance Agency | NHMCLE
Search | Calendar

New Hampshire Bar Association
2 Pillsbury Street, Suite 300, Concord NH 03301
phone: (603) 224-6942 fax: (603) 224-2910
email: NHBAinfo@nhbar.org
© NH Bar Association Disclaimer