Back to Institute Archive" Grant to Fund New Institute for Domestic Violence"
The University of South Florida has been awarded a one-year, $174,000 grant from the Florida Department of Community Affairs, funded by the state's Stop Violence Against Women Act, to establish a new Institute for Domestic Violence that will serve as a statewide resource to reduce violence against women. It is a collaborative effort between the James and Jennifer Harrell Center for the Study of Domestic Violence at USF's College of Public Health and the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute's Research Library.
Each year an estimated 2 million women in the United States are assaulted by their male partners and approximately 1.5 million women seek medical attention for injuries resulting from those assaults. In Florida, there were more than 130-thousand reported incidents of domestic violence annually in the years 1995 through 1997 - a rate that produces one victim every four minutes.
"One of the most effective ways to reduce incidents of domestic violence is through education and awareness," said Library Director Ardis Hanson. "This grant will promote innovative information sharing, and will assist in getting knowledge to those who want or need it."
The new Institute will focus its efforts in three primary areas of activities - research, training, and resource development. The research unit will conduct a statewide evaluation of specialized domestic violence courts. It will analyze and compare three existing types of courts: unified systems where civil and criminal courts are combined; specialized calendars which set aside particular times to hear domestic violence cases; and those courts where domestic violence cases are heard together with all other cases.
The resource unit will set up a statewide resource center to collect and distribute informational materials, and provide research support and library instruction. The de la Parte Institute's Research Library will provide research services, such as literature reviews and fact-finding, and materials delivery. Materials housed at the library will also be available library patrons across the nation via interlibrary loan services. The training and technical assistance unit will develop curriculum for and deliver training to law enforcement personnel in the area of primary aggressor determination, which identifies the party that initiated the battery, as well as for legal advocates who assist battered women in using legal services.