Domestic Violence Commission

Research and Development/Annual Report Committee

 

Meeting Minutes

July 11, 2003

 

Present:  Alan Hiromura, Abbie Robideaux, and Judge Thomas Kelly

 

  1. Meeting called to order at 12:28pm
  2. Introduction of committee members
  3. No additions or deletions to the agenda
  4. No oral communications from the community
  5. Approving meeting minutes from May 6 was deferred to the next meeting.  
  6. Report back on questionnaire responses received to date.
    1. Everyone is getting into a pattern of sending Alan the questionnaires so collecting data is getting easier.
    2. There is a need to reword a question in the Batterers Questionnaire. There was some confusion on whether to report continuing clients from the beginning of the month or from the end of the month. Alan has been in contact with everyone and everyone will be report continuing clients from the beginning of the month.
  7. Report back on funding for the Annual Report.
    1. Mark Tracy approved that $3,500 of the stipends will go to producing the reports. There is still more stipend money that will need to be distributed.
    2. The cost of the reports will be discussed at the next meeting to determine whether $3,500 is actually enough money.
  8. Review the template for the Annual Report that was developed during the last meeting.
    1. Alan will e-mail the revised template to the Committee. It was determined that the two proposed templates would be combined to reflect what was discussed at the previous meeting.
    2. Abbie will provide the Committee with population data to calculate rates. Only Census data can be used because of limitations with collecting population data. Abbie will bring population data by jurisdiction and age (18 – 69 years old) to the next meeting. It is important to use 18 – 69 years old so that the data is comparable to the data from the California Criminal Justice Department.
    3. Alan thought that it would be nice to present a ½ year report to the Commission. This will be discussed at the next meeting.
    4. The data will be complete in January 2004. There was some discussion about beginning to write sections of the report that do not require data. This will be discussed at the next meeting.
    5. Judge Kelly spent some time explaining domestic violence in the court system and the history of domestic violence in the court system. It was determined that presenting the history of domestic violence in the court system would be interesting to include in the final report.

                                                               i.      The courts have made a lot of progress in domestic violence cases. With Family Law Matters the courts offer a full-service system that avoids inconsistent court orders and provide less time in court. The court is able to address parent issues, child support, visitation, etc. The concept is good but the facilitator is over extended.

                                                             ii.      Domestic violence cases are the hardest to get convictions because the victim often recants and denies their original statement.

  1. Discuss problem with medical reporting data that we are collecting.
    1. The medical reporting data is collected from the Health Department. The numbers that are being reported are not correct  (too small) and do not reflect what is really happening. The Health Department is not getting complete information from the law enforcement agencies.
    2. Alan felt it was important to bring this issue to the Commission. There are three options to be considered.

                                                               i.      No longer collect medical reporting data.

                                                             ii.      Renew efforts to collect medical reporting data from law enforcement.

                                                            iii.      Collect medical reporting data directly from the medical facilities.

 

Next Meeting: Thursday, August 7 at 12:15pm