A University of Colorado professor and doctoral candidate traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to present at a congressional briefing.
Joanne Belknap, an ethnic studies professor, and Deanne Grant, a doctoral candidate in ethnic studies, prepared one of about a dozen presentations on various criminal justice topics at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Tuesday.
The briefing highlighted what has changed in criminal justice practice and research since the landmark 1967 Lyndon B. Johnson Crime Commission and what topics should be included if a new commission is formed. A bill introduced in this session of Congress, if passed, would create a new National Criminal Justice Commission.
More than 100 people attended the Tuesday briefing — which was organized by the George Mason University’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy and sponsored by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation — including senators who came and went between votes, Belknap said.
“It’s so important to be able to research, and not only have our classes be informed by research but also to have our research be used,” Belknap said. “There are so many things that have changed in the last 50 years.”
She stood behind a podium affixed with the U.S. Senate seal and delivered a speech in which she advocated for support of non-police responses to domestic violence, including victim shelters, specialized courts and coordinated responses by multiple community groups and agencies, and the formation of a new commission.
A new crime commission that addresses and assesses domestic violence responses is necessary, she said, because millions of people are affected nationwide by domestic violence; some current policies in effect criminalize women, especially women of color and poor women, rather than their abusers; and research documents the potential for programs and policies to make a difference in victims’ lives. Domestic violence was not thoroughly addressed by the original crime commission, she said.
“Clearly, we need money to expand domestic violence shelters and their access to women and children, and search for ways to fund these and other domestic violence programs and for governments to advocate for them,” Belknap said during her speech.
Belknap said she was approached in August to write a paper, in part because she was previously the president of the American Society of Criminology. She asked Grant to assist her because the two had worked together in the past, including when Grant was a teaching assistant for Belknap’s classes.
They co-authored a paper on non-police responses to domestic violence, how they’ve developed and how they should be assessed. Their paper also addressed the role that feminist activism played in raising awareness about the pervasiveness of domestic violence. In February, the pair was asked to present the findings in their paper this week.
“It was a great opportunity to advocate for and discuss issues that our very close to our hearts,” Grant said. “I appreciate that mentorship very much and recognize that this is a unique and valuable opportunity.”
The other speeches at the briefing highlighted research about other criminal justice topics, including police responses to domestic violence, prosecution, juvenile justice, narcotics and drug abuse, and race, crime and criminal justice.
The paper by Belknap and Grant is available online in full at rdcu.be/L7xq.
