Domestic Violence Commission

Research and Development Annual Report Committee

Committee Meeting Notes, November 9, 2005

 

Participants

Janet Seminerio                        Women’s Crisis Support – Defensa de Mujeres

Joanne De Los Reyes               Women’s Crisis Support – Defensa de Mujeres

Kristie Clemens                        Walnut Avenue Women’s Center 

David Rabow                            Women’s Crisis Support –Defensa de Mujeres

Alex Calvo                                Santa Cruz County Superior Court

Alan Hiromura                          County Administrator’s Office

Scott MacDonald                      Probation

Jennifer Buesing                       Probation

Fred Nohr                                 DA’s Office

Patty King                                 Family & Children’s Services

 

Artwork for report cover

Two pieces of art were reviewed and discussed.  Group members will review a third piece, entitled, “Hands are not for hitting,” at the next meeting. 

 

Once we’ve selected the artwork that we want to include in the publication, Alan will elicit assistance from a graphic designer for advice.  

 

Group members are encouraged to bring other images to the next meeting for consideration. 

 

Data Discussion

We reviewed a body of data provided by various agencies. The data shows some discrepancies.  The report narrative will explain these discrepancies.    

 

The task at this meeting was to review the existing statistics for accuracy, and to begin to understand discrepancies in the data from agency to agency. 

 

Possible causes of discrepancies include variations in methods of data collection from agency to agency, and the variety of databases used to collect the information. 

 

All group members are encouraged to carefully review their own data, and to contact other agency representatives or helpful individuals to resolve discrepancies.

 

Helpful contact persons: 

·  Sylvia Nieto  - from DA Victim Services

·  Susan Rosario from Sheriff’s office – for law enforcement statistics

 

Specific issues discussed:

·  Advocacy agencies may be interpreting the same question differently therefore there may be an inconsistency in the data collected. 

·  Susan Rosario, Sheriff’s Office, will review the Law Enforcement Agency statistics to ensure that any variances are not attributable to inconsistency in data collection.

·  Child witness section:  Law enforcement data conflicts with child witness information; child welfare tracks data by family, while law enforcement agencies may track data by numbers of children affected.  Patty King will contact Susan Rosario.

·  Law Enforcement Agencies include various penal code sections in response to their questions in the questionnaire.  Fred Nohr will verify that there is consistency in data collection among the law enforcement agencies.

·  Court section: Criminal protective orders are an important aspect of understanding domestic violence.  Alex Calvo will find out if that information is available so that it may be included as well as the civil domestic violence data in the 2005 Report to the Community. 

·  Court section: Question #20 in the court section: Alan will delete that from the stats unless he hears otherwise.

·  Court section:  Can the court implement a system to track whether a Restraining Order packet is filed with the aid of an advocate?  Alex will determine that. 

·  Court section:  Will the Courts be able to provide criminal court statistics?

·  Probation:  As a result of a decrease in POs, probation is unable to maintain a separate unit for DV cases.  This makes data collection more difficult.  They track only DV-coded cases now. 

·  Probation:  Probation raised the question of whether we needed the body of data regarding percentage of probationers referred to DV programs?  The data does not include the number of people who leave probation.  Per Alan – if data is not helpful to Probation, the committee will consider eliminating it.

·  Probation:  their section of the report will include a larger picture of their best practice versus what occurs now. 

·  Probation:  Probation handles all DV convictions, monitors 52-week DV intervention, referral clients and agencies serving clients.  Probation will confirm data from service providers.  Per Alan – we also need the number of probationers completing treatment programs and the number who left the program without completing.        

 

General questions, comments about the report

·  As questions arise, group members should try to answer the questions, or raise them in the report.  It may fall to the Commission to obtain answers to certain questions. Report writers can include questions in their section of the report. 

 

·  Everyone should address this information in their respective sections of the report: 

1)     Do the statistics show a decrease in the overall number of cases coming in to the system this year?    If so, why?   

2)     How does data from each of the agencies relate to the other agencies’ data?   

 

Topics for Next Agenda

1)      Specific questions from the questionnaire to be added or deleted. 

2)       

 

Next Meeting

December 14, 2005

12:15 p.m.  

CAO Conference Room 520