J erom e E. McE lroy Executive Director THE IMPACT OF THE KINGS COUNTY INTEGRATED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COURT ON CASE PROCESSING Richard R. Peterson, Ph.D. Project Director and Director, Research Department FINAL REPORT January 2014 52 Duane Street, New York, NY 10007 (646) 213-2500 THE IMPACT OF THE KINGS COUNTY INTEGRATED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COURT ON CASE PROCESSING Richard R. Peterson, Ph.D. Project Director and Director, Research Department Research Assistance: Raymond P. Caligiure Graphics and Production Specialist Maria Annabel Mireles Research Assistant Administrative Support: Annie Su Administrative Associate Information Systems Programming: Wayne Nehwadowich Senior Programmer/Analyst Please cite this report as follows, adapted to your citation style: Peterson, Richard R. 2014. The Impact of the Kings County Integrated Domestic Violence Court on Case Processing. New York: New York City Criminal Justice Agency, Inc. January 2014  2014 NYC Criminal Justice Agency, Inc. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author completed this study with substantial support and assistance from the Kings County District Attorney’s office, colleagues at the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, and others. The author thanks the Kings County District Attorney’s office for supporting this project and providing resources essential for the study. The author extends special thanks to Deirdre Bialo-Padin, Chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau, and Wanda Lucibello, Chief of the Special Victims Division, for their support and advice. The author also extends special thanks to Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and to Amy Feinstein, Chief Assistant District Attorney, for their support. The author is also grateful to Leslie Kahn, Bureau Chief for the Integrated Domestic Violence Court, and to other Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs) in the Domestic Violence Bureau who provided advice about how cases are prosecuted, court operations, victim services, and legal issues. The author also thanks Andrea McIntosh, Administrative Manager of the Domestic Violence Bureau, who explained the case filing system and arranged for access to the files. The author extends special thanks to Israel Aponte, Clerk of the Domestic Violence Bureau, Garvin A. Gerald, Supervisor of Records Management, and Thomas J. McDonald, Manager of Records Management, who retrieved hundreds of archived case files for this project. The author thanks Anh Banh and Yakov Lerman of the District Attorney’s Information Technology Department, who provided the electronic data for the Domestic Violence Bureau Dataset described in chapter 2. The author extends special thanks to Jennifer DeCarli, Executive Director of the New York City Family Justice Center in Brooklyn, Anne Patterson, Director of the Early Victim Engagement (EVE) Project at the Family Justice Center, and Sarah McGrath, Director of KCDA’s Victim Services Unit, who provided information about the EVE Project and the Family Justice Center. The author also thanks Yolanda Jimenez, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, and Edward Hill, Fatalities Review Coordinator at the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence. Many colleagues at the New York City Criminal Justice Agency also contributed to this project. The author thanks Dr. Mary Phillips, Deputy Research Director, and Marian Gewirtz, Senior Research Analyst at CJA, for their advice on the project. Thanks also to Annie Su who formatted and checked the report and prepared the figures, Raymond P. Caligiure who assisted with data cleaning and editing the report, and Maria Annabel Mireles who also assisted with editing. The author thanks Wayne Nehwadowich who programmed the case processing data. The author also acknowledges other colleagues at CJA who provided advice, information, and editorial suggestions: Jerome E. McElroy, Executive Director of CJA, Mari Curbelo, Esq., Geraldine Ferrara, Esq., Peter Kiers and Frank Sergi. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, Continued Special thanks to Amanda Cissner, Principal Research Associate, Center for Court Innovation, and Michael Rempel, Research Director, Center for Court Innovation, who reviewed an earlier draft of the report and provided comments and suggestions. The author also thanks Robin J. Weber, J.D., Ph.D., Vermont Center for Justice Research, Liberty Aldrich, Esq., Director, Domestic Violence and Family Court Programs at the Center for Court Innovation, Amy P. Barasch, Esq., Center for Research on Women in Government and Civil Society, SUNY-Albany, Sheriece M. Campbell, MPS, Domestic Violence Resource Coordinator, Criminal Court, Prof. Jo Dixon, Sociology Department, New York University, Hon. Patricia E. Henry, Melissa Labriola, Associate Director of Research at the Center for Court Innovation, Hon. Esther M. Morgenstern, Chris S. O’Sullivan, Ph.D., Evaluation Consultant, Vera Institute of Justice, and Martha Jenny Velasquez, LMSW, Resource Coordinator, Kings County IDV Court, for their assistance in providing background information for this research project. The methodology, findings, and conclusions of the study, as well as any errors, omissions, and misinterpretations are the sole responsibility of the author. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ......................................................................................................................1 A. Specialized DV Courts and IDV Courts ........................................................................1 B. Domestic Violence Courts in Brooklyn ..........................................................................3 C. Review of the Literature ................................................................................................7 D. Research Plan ............................................................................................................ 11 II. Methodology ................................................................................................................... 13 A. Description of Datasets ............................................................................................... 13 B. Identifying Intimate Partner Violence, Elder Abuse, and “Other” Domestic Violence Cases ......................................................................................................................... 18 C. Identifying IDV Court and Criminal Court DV Cases ................................................... 21 III. Case Outcomes in IDV Court and Criminal Court ....................................................... 23 A. Case Processing Outcomes and Pretrial Misconduct in IDV Court Cases and Criminal Court DV Cases ............................................................................................ 24 B. Case Disposition and Sentencing in IDV Court Cases and Criminal Court DV Cases.................................................................................................................... 27 C. Summary and Discussion of Findings ......................................................................... 31 IV. The Impact of IDV Court on Case Outcomes ............................................................... 33 A. Creating Matched Samples of IDV Court and Criminal Court DV Cases .................... 33 B. Case Processing Outcomes and Pretrial Misconduct for Matched Samples .............. 38 C. Case Disposition and Sentencing Outcomes for Matched Samples ........................... 40 D. Summary and Discussion of Findings ......................................................................... 41 V. The Impact of IDV Court on Convictions in DV Cases ................................................ 43 A. Witness Participation and Conviction Rates ............................................................... 43 B. Strength of Evidence and Conviction Rates ............................................................... 46 C. Summary and Discussion of Findings ......................................................................... 49 VI. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 51 A. Major Findings ............................................................................................................ 51 B. Discussion .................................................................................................................. 52 C. Best Practices for Adjudicating and Prosecuting Domestic Violence Cases ............... 60 Table of Contents Continues on Next Page i TABLE OF CONTENTS, CONTINUED VII. References ...................................................................................................................... 63 Appendix A: Family Justice Center Brochure ..................................................................... 67 Appendix B: Determining the Top Charge .......................................................................... 69 Appendix C: Case Outcomes for All Defendants by Court Type ....................................... 71 Appendix D: Propensity Score Matching ............................................................................ 73 A. Selection Effects in Observational Data ...................................................................... 73 B. Using Propensity Score Matching to Address Selection Effects in the IDV Study ...... 74 Appendix E: Logistic Regression Analysis ......................................................................... 77 ii LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1 Outcomes in IDV Court Versus Comparison Court .................................................8 Table 2-1 Summary of Information Available in Each Dataset .............................................. 15 Table 4-1 Baseline Data for Case File Sample and Matched Sample ................................... 36 iii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 2-1 Overview of Brooklyn Arrests and Datasets .................................................... 14 FIGURE 3-1 Release Status by Court Type, Excluding Cross-Complaints .......................... 25 FIGURE 3-2 Number of Court Appearances by Court Type, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ............................................................................ 25 FIGURE 3-3 Number of Days from Arraignment to Disposition by Court Type, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ....................................... 26 FIGURE 3-4 Defendant Ever Re-arrested for a New DV Offense Prior to Case Disposition, by Court Type, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ............... 26 FIGURE 3-5 Defendant Ever Re-arrested for a New Non-DV Offense Prior to Case Disposition by Court Type, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ............................................................................................ 26 FIGURE 3-6 Defendant Ever Re-arrested for a New DV or Non-DV Offense Prior to Case Disposition by Court Type, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ............................................................................................ 27 FIGURE 3-7 Defendant Ever Failed to Appear for a Scheduled Court Appearance by Court Type, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints .................... 27 FIGURE 3-8 Case Disposition by Court Type, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ............................................................................................ 28 FIGURE 3-9 Conviction Charge Severity by Court Type, Convicted Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ............................................................................ 29 FIGURE 3-10 Sentence Outcomes by Court Type, Convicted Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ............................................................................ 30 FIGURE 3-11 Length of Jail or Prison Sentence by Court Type, Released Defendants Sentenced to Jail or Prison, Excluding Cross-Complaints ............................... 30 FIGURE 4-1 Number of Court Appearances by Court Type, Matched Samples, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ....................................... 38 FIGURE 4-2 Number of Days from Arraignment to Disposition by Court Type, Matched Samples, Released Defendants, Excluding Cross-Complaints ......... 38 List of Figures Continues on Next Page iv