Court and prosecutor participation in a coordinate response is also a crucial component to the success of the Justice system. In order to be effective, the justice system should implement laws on violence against women, including policies on victims in court, specialized courts and prosecutorial units, training for judges and prosecutors, as well as specialized policies and procedures for handling cases. Best practices dictate that:
- prosecutors and courts disclose relevant statistics on the handling of violence against women cases;
- prosecution of cases as if the victim is not participating;
- devote an adequate and equitable percentage of training in relation to the number of cases of violence against women that are handled by the office or court;
- vigorously enforce perpetrator compliance with protection orders (including custody, visitation, injunctive, criminal or civil orders for protection) (can be done through the use of probation programs); and
- courts provide easily accessible and enforceable protection orders.
Source: National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Coordinated Community Action model for preventing and responding to intimate partner violence.
See the Justice module for more information about the gaps in the judicial and prosecutorial response to violence against women and girls and best practices, including use of probation services to enforce court orders, in improving this response. Additionally, see the Courts and prosecutors section of Implementing laws in the Legislation module.