A New York statewide investigation of domestic violence courts found that these courts reduced rearrests for any criminal charges, inclusive of domestic violence charges, among convicted offenders who were subject to policies such as judicial supervision and sanctions for noncompliance.

 

Program Overview

Courts

Courts Program

The Courts Program supported federal, state, tribal, territorial and local courts or court-based programs in improving their responses to domestic/sexual violence through specialized court processes, such as dedicated court dockets, specialized courts, and enhanced court procedures, and by providing judicial training.

The 2013 reauthorization of VAWA replaced the Courts Program, along with the Supervised Visitation Program, with a new, comprehensive grant program: the Grants to Support Families in the Justice System Program (Justice for Families or JFF Program). The Justice for Families Program improves civil and criminal justice system response to families with histories of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, and cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse. The last Courts Program grants were awarded in FY 2014.

FAQs

VAWA IMPACT Tool for Discretionary Grantees FAQs

View the answers to questions specifically related to the Discretionary Grants and the IMPACT Tool.

News & Updates

May 21, 2025

Preliminary Key Performance Indicators from OVW are available for the July 2024-December 2024 period.

These Preliminary Key Performance Indicators are data points derived from the collection of the July to December 2024 performance reports in the IMPACT Tool. Click to read more.