Open Access
If you build it, they will come
Loading...
License
Access Rights
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
1942-9851; 0042-0190
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Author(s)
Citation
University of Toledo law review, 2025, Vol. 57, No.1, pp. 27-59
Cite
KATIRAI, Negar, If you build it, they will come, University of Toledo law review, 2025, Vol. 57, No.1, pp. 27-59 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/94009
Abstract
The first family justice center opened its doors to victim-survivors of intimate partner violence in 2002 in San Diego, California. The center co-locates staff from private and public agencies with the goal of making it easier for victim-survivors of intimate partner violence to access services. This family justice center model quickly rose in popularity, assisted by grants from the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women, among other government institutions and private foundations. There are now hundreds of family justice centers across the United States, and the model is being exported to other countries as well. Alliance for Hope, an organization that supports family justice centers and is funded by the Office of Violence Against Women, reports that there are over 300 centers around the world and many in development. And yet a review of research across disciplines including law, sociology, psychology, and public health reveals few published studies of the effectiveness of this organizational model. To the contrary, several scholars have cautioned that the core values of the family justice center model include an emphasis on prosecution and offender accountability that runs counter to the interests of victim-survivors, particularly those from marginalized communities who may be more reticent to engage with the criminal legal system. This article explores the history of and conversation around family justice centers and posits that the rise of the model is another iteration of how the U.S. approach to addressing intimate partner violence centers around the criminal legal system.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
Published online: Fall 2025