Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

Domestic Violence Work Groups’ Report to Lawmakers: Next Steps for Overhaul of State Domestic Violence Response Include Funding, Research, Training

Continuing work begun in 2017, two workgroups convened by the Washington Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission have submitted reports to state lawmakers. The reports contain detailed recommendations for overhauling the state’s response to domestic violence.

The recommendations address intervention and prevention strategies, mandatory ongoing training for providers and stakeholders, funding for treatment, the critical need for data collection and information sharing, obstacles to effective treatment, increased support for victims and survivors, the use of risk assessment tools, the issue of mandatory arrests during domestic violence police calls, and more.

The workgroups and their reports were mandated by state lawmakers in 2019, through House Bill 1517. The goal was to continue efforts started by legislation in 2017 to respond more effectively to domestic violence and its severe impacts on victims, families and communities.

“It continues to be true that there are no simple solutions for the complicated problem of domestic violence, but there are significant improvements that can be made to our system of responding to it,” said Spokane Municipal Court Judge Mary Logan, co-chair of the two workgroups. “Those improvements need to be coordinated and comprehensive in order to be effective. We can protect families and communities better by applying what we have learned.”

The two reports and links to the 2019 and 2017 legislation can be found on the Gender and Justice Commission web page. The page also contains a new guide for treatment of domestic violence perpetrators developed by the Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center, also mandated by the 2019 legislation.

The effort to overhaul Washington’s response to domestic violence was undertaken because decades of legislative and criminal justice actions have not succeeded in significantly reducing this type of violence and its severe impacts on families and communities. House Bill 1517 pointed out that more than 56,000 domestic violence incidents were reported to Washington law enforcement agencies in 2019. The 2017 legislation, HB 1163, pointed out that 54 percent of mass shootings in the U.S. are related to domestic violence and that progression of violence is prevalent among DV offenders.

“Given the pervasiveness of domestic violence and because of the link between domestic violence and many community issues…victims and offenders are owed effective treatment and courts need better tools,” House Bill 1517 said.

State legislators in 2017 mandated establishment of two workgroups to study and make recommendations in two areas of domestic violence response — treatment of perpetrators, and use of risk assessment tools — with a focus on repeat offenders. The workgroups were convened by the Gender and Justice Commission, and the reports and recommendations submitted to lawmakers in July of 2018.

The 2019 Legislature mandated that the workgroups be reconvened to move the work forward by studying obstacles to revamping domestic violence treatment, making recommendations for implementation, and continuing their examination of domestic violence response.

Some recommendations from the two workgroup reports include:

• Collection of accurate state data on domestic violence cases, public health and law enforcement response, for use in ongoing research and evaluation;
• Expansion of support for victims/survivors;
• Full funding of intervention treatment, including state-certified remote treatment and culturally competent treatment options;
• Use of a therapeutic court model for supporting treatment and accountability of offenders, and for acting as a central repository of sharable data;
• A more comprehensive system response beyond development of risk assessment tools;
• Increased access to training and resources for stakeholders, and ongoing education and outreach to raise awareness of changes in law, standards and best practices;
• Support of prevention-focused options for perpetrators, and opportunities for earlier intervention;
• Continued focus and enforcement of firearms surrender;
• Adding domestic violence considerations to criminal court rules as a resource for judges making pretrial release decisions;
• Use of screening tools in non-criminal settings to help professionals identify victims and promote earlier connection to services;
• That any change to Washington’s mandatory arrest law only be considered after additional study by an appropriate research entity, more robust supports, and expanded education;
• Increasing focus on rehabilitation of offenders, including referring to “Domestic Violence Intervention Treatment” rather than “Perpetrator Treatment.”

“We want to thank the Legislature for members’ efforts to bring significant improvement to our system of responding to domestic violence, which can make a real difference to families and communities,” said Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Eric Lucas, co-chair of the workgroups. “We hope lawmakers will continue to prioritize these important changes, and we look forward to working with them and leaders in all the branches of government to help move these important changes forward.”

The Washington State Gender and Justice Commission was established by the state Supreme Court in 1994 to identify measures for preventing gender bias in the courts. The Commission followed the work of the Gender and Justice Task Force, which was mandated by the 1987 Legislature and convened under the auspices of the Supreme Court in 1988 to research and identify specific gender bias in the judicial system, and to develop recommendations for eliminating it.

CONTACT: Spokane Municipal Court Judge Mary Logan, mlogan@spokanecity.org, (509) 625-4400; Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Eric Lucas, Eric.Lucas@snoco.org, (425) 388-3421; Washington Supreme Court Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud, chair of the Gender and Justice Commission, (360) 357-2046; Cynthia Delostrinos, Administrative Manager for Supreme Court Commissions, (360) 705-5327, Cynthia.Delostrinos@courts.wa.gov.