Introduction: the role and context of the criminal justice system
Defining and measuring domestic violence and its impact
Risk markers for offenders and victims
Societal and historical factors in domestic violence
The traditional police response and early innovations
The push for criminal justice innovation
The development of state and federal legislation
The increased policy preference for arrest
Factors affecting police response
Variations in police response to domestic and nondomestic assaults
Classic patterns of nonintervention by the prosecutors and courts
The changing prosecutorial response
Judicial innovations: diversions from criminal justice system
The role of restraining and protective orders
Innovations in judicial processing and disposition.
