The OVW domestic violence mentor court technical assistance initiative (mentor courtinitiative) recognizes well-established specialized courts and enables them to guide novice or developing courts and…

The Winnebago County Circuit Court in Rockford, Illinois was awarded a $150,000 cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) under the OVW Special Projects program (CFDA 16.029) to serve as a national mentor court for domestic violence cases. As one of five selected mentor courts, Winnebago County will assist in selecting jurisdictions to receive mentorship, develop mentoring relationships with those courts, host 6-9 site visits, provide on-site technical assistance, and share best practices and court protocols to help other jurisdictions plan and implement specialized domestic violence courts and dockets. The goal of this initiative is to enable well-established courts to guide less experienced courts in improving their responses to domestic violence cases and ensuring victim safety and offender accountability.

The OVW domestic violence mentor court technical assistance initiative (mentor courtinitiative) recognizes well-established specialized courts and enables them to guide novice or developing courts and court-based programs that wish to significantly improve their responses to domestic violence cases and ensure victim safety and offender accountability. These well-established courts serve as national models and share their expertise by hosting site visits, linking courts with peers facing similar challenges, and assisting other domestic violence courts to implement best practices to respond effectively to these difficult cases. Five courts were competitively selected to serve as mentor court sites. Each site will: 1) assist in selecting jurisdictions to receive mentorship; 2) develop and maintain a mentoring relationship with selected jurisdictions planning domestic violence courts; 3) plan and host 6-9 site visits for selected jurisdictions to assist them in planning a domestic violence docket or court; 4) travel 2-3 times to selected jurisdictions to provide on-site technical assistance on developing a domestic violence courtor docket; 5) share domestic violence related court forms, procedures, and protocols; 6) send members of the recipients mentor court team to 1-2 mentor court all sites meetings; 7) participate in the OVW judicial engagement network summit; 8) develop and participate in OVW-sponsored judicial forums and roundtable meetings; 9) respond to technical assistance inquiries from courts other than mentee courts; 10) host mentor court open house events for jurisdictions interested in planning domestic violence courts other than the selected mentee courts; and 11) collaborate with OVW technical assistance providers. Thewinnebago county domestic violence coordinated court, located in rockford, illinois, is one of the five selected courts.