A strategic priority of the GJCOM is to establish approaches for understanding and addressing the nexus of immigration, culture, and domestic violence.

Immigration, a changing workforce, and numerous other demographic trends have resulted in jurisdictions across Washington State needing to develop better ways for dealing with domestic violence involving people from diverse cultures. In particular, jurisdictions across Washington State are becoming increasingly populated with people with Latin American, Asian, African, and Middle-Eastern, rather than Anglo-European roots. As one result, courts and justice systems need to formulate approaches to dealing with domestic and family violence that emphasize the importance of understanding culture differences and determining when and how cultural attributes might be helpful in shaping appropriate responses. Moreover, understanding the role immigration status can play in both the dynamics of domestic violence and fashioning and successfully implementing appropriate responses was identified as an important aspect of improving court capacity.