The Indiana Supreme Court’s Division of State Court Administration has a new resource available for judges handling cases involving domestic violence. The Division recently received a STOP (Services-Training-Officers-Prosecutors) Violence Against Women grant to create a new position within the office to function as a single point of contact on domestic violence law and the judicial areas it affects.
The newly created position of Domestic Violence Resource Attorney will provide technical assistance to judicial officers and court staff, develop training and written materials for judicial officers, promote communication among courts on best practices, and provide assistance and support to local courts interested in developing domestic violence programs.
In addition to working with judges, the Domestic Violence Resource Attorney will also reach out to both governmental and non-governmental agencies to promote interagency collaboration to address responses to domestic violence. One of our top priorities over the past year has been our partnership with the Indiana Judicial Center and the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence to develop a six-hour training entitled How Family Violence Impacts You and Your Courts. The training debuted at the Spring Judicial Conference in April, and it will be repeated at three regional locations in October. The tentatively scheduled dates and locations are:
- Friday, October 12, at the Inn at DePauw (formerly Walden Inn), Greencastle, IN
- Friday, October 19, at Springmill Inn, Mitchell, IN
- Friday, October 26, at Swan Lake Resort, Plymouth, IN