Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Martha R. Burt on Crime and Justice

This report summarizes major findings from our work on family violence for the United Way of Central New Mexico (UWCNM). "Family violence" includes violence between intimate partners (spouses, cohabiting couples, dating couples) and between adult family members and children. We identified the current availability of and significant gaps in services and supports for victims of family violence in the UWCNM service area. We were also alert to the opportunities to develop a coordinated community response to family violence that helps current victims and works to reduce and ultimately eliminate violence among family members. Based on these findings, and drawing on our knowledge of programs and approaches that work in other communities, the report presents suggestions and opportunities on which UWCNM and its community partners could act to achieve their goals.

The purpose of this evaluation was to assess whether STOP's financial support for direct victim services offered through private nonprofit agencies helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault improve their safety and well-being, and work successfully with legal system and other relevant agencies. Results show that women benefit from services of private nonprofit victim service agencies and the benefit of these services is enhanced when victim service agencies work in collaboration with the legal system and other relevant agencies in their community. When community agencies worked together to address domestic violence and sexual assault, women found them to be more helpful and effective and were more satisfied with the treatment they received from the legal system and their case outcomes. Legal system outcomes of arrests and convictions also happened more frequently when community agencies worked together.

This paper details "the best-laid plans" to evaluate the effects of STOP-funded private nonprofit victim service programs on women victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, how they went "agley," and how the researchers coped. Reasons include many that past and future research has encountered and will encounter. They include the fragility and lack of infrastructure of many programs, plus inadequate resources for the research, far more than any unwillingness to participate on the part of women themselves. The paper suggests various ways to reduce the barriers to conducting victim research. But evaluators must anticipate pitfalls and develop solutions, and retain flexibility to adjust designs without destroying research rigor, running out of time, and overrunning project budgets.

For the fiscal years 1995 through 2000, more than $440 million was spent funding nearly 9,000 subgrants reported on Subgrant Award and Performance Reports (SAPRs). These subgrants funded 3,444 separate projects. Although the median award was modest, at just over $30,000, many projects received multiple grants and multiyear funding. Sixty percent received funding for more than one year, and a third for more than two years. This sustained support has helped promote stability and continuity in all kinds of local efforts to build community responses to violence against women.

The purpose of this evaluation is to assess whether STOP's financial support for direct victim services offered through private nonprofit victim service (VS) agencies helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault improve their safety and well-being and work successfully with legal system and other relevant agencies.

This study was done to gain more knowledge about ways that STOP funds are being used to improve services to women in historically underserved communities (STOP grants are provided to assist units of local government to develop and strengthen effective law enforcement and prosecution strategies to combat violent crimes against women). Through interviews with sub-grantees, the study obtained information about the groups served, the services provided , and their perceptions about the impact of their projects. Finally the report examined the strategies that sub-grantees believe have been most successful in reaching out to women in underserved communities.

This report assesses the progress and accomplishments of the STOP Program in the second year of STOP program authorization. The Violence Against Women Act, Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322), provides for Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants to states under Chapter 2 of the Safe Streets Act. The grant have been designated the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) grants by their federal administrator, the Department of Justice's Violence Against Women Grants Office in the Office of Justice Programs. They are "to assist States, Indian tribal governments, and units of local government to develop and strengthen effective law enforcement and prosecution strategies to combat violent crimes against women, and to develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving violent crimes against women."

This paper investigates cognitive representations and coping patterns women use in their efforts to recover from a rape experience. The investigation used an approach integrating three different lines of research and theory: (1) stress and coping; (2) post-traumatic stress responses; and (3) cognitive social psychology. In addition, the paper explores the proposition that long-term recovery from rape occurs in two phases—an adjustment phase and an integration phase. Interviews were used to collect data on interviewees' pre- and post-rape lives. The data collection instruments and interview techniques were designed to examine the accuracy of the adjustment-integration concept.

The Violence Against Women Act, Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322), provides for Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants to states under Chapter 2 of the Safe Streets Act. The grants have been designated the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) grants by their federal administrator, the Department of Justice's Violence Against Women Grants Office in the Office of Justice Programs. They are "to assist States, Indian tribal governments, and units of local government to develop and strengthen effective law enforcement and prosecution strategies to combat violent crimes against women, and to develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving violent crimes against women."