Gender and Justice Commission

Past Projects

Since 2001, 57 contracts totaling $1,267,387 has been awarded to local courts throughout the state.  The funding has been provided through the Office on Violence Against Women STOP Grant and is limited to programs and projects that courts can implement to provide increased safety and justice for adult victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking.  The Commission encourages courts to replicate previously-funded projects.

In the past few years, contracts have been awarded for the following projects:

• Asotin County District Court hired a part-time probation officer who focused on cases involving violence against women
   
• Sedro-Woolley Municipal Court purchased security wands, created policies and training staff, developed and printed victim information packets, and selected and purchased domestic violence and stalking videos in three (3) languages
   
• Spokane County District Court hired an advocate to assist victims of domestic violence within the criminal/civil justice system through attending court proceedings, assisting in document and case preparation, and ensuring linkages with community resources
   
• Yakima County Superior Court provided partial funding for a domestic violence coordinator to facilitate the reconciliation of inconsistent orders issued in different judicial jurisdictions involved the same party
   
• King County Superior Court and the Department of Judicial Administration completed the CPS and Law Enforcement Reponses for the “Confidential Housing Programs Guideline Document” and revised the King County Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment Coordinated Response Guidelines.  In addition, they conducted five (5) trainings on the guidelines
   
• Sexual Violence Law Center began gathering data and developing the content needed to create a sexual assault benchguide
   
• Lakewood Municipal Court leveraged their funds for local support to assist in purchasing an x-ray machine
   
• Gender and Justice Commission utilized funds to hold state-wide regional meetings addressing duplicative and conflicting protection and no contact orders to assist in development of model policies used by all courts
   
• King County District Court hired a court analyst to develop a data collection system to evaluate their current process for managing domestic violence cases
   
• Snohomish County Clerk’s Office hired a staff person to work exclusively with the Domestic Violence Division
   
• Thurston County Superior Court hired a domestic violence legal assistant to document court practices and coordinate the development of a protocol that will address conflicting court orders
   
• King County Superior Court utilized funds to develop and provide domestic violence training to judicial staff
   
• Spokane County District Court hired a full-time, court-based domestic violence advocate to represent victims in Domestic Violence Court, Mental Health Court, and Veteran’s Court
   

Other items also provided through the STOP grant funding have been:

• Provided scholarships to over 150 judicial officers to attend the basic and advanced Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases training through the Judicial Institute
   
• Provided webcasts on Cyberstalking to all court levels for judicial officers
   
• Provided training on Respecting Best Practices in Challenging Domestic Violence Cases to District and Municipal Court Judicial Officers
   
• Offered domestic violence course at Judicial College that includes the simulated exercises In Her Shoes

View the Complete Project List since 2001