Witness Tampering: In 2011, Professor Amy Bonomi, Professor and Chair of Human Development and Family Studies at Michigan State University and David Martin, King County (Washington) published the field’s first analysis of jail calls that occur between domestic abusers and their victims; outlining a five-stage model describing how abusers manipulate their victims into changing their stories to lessen impending criminal charges. Recently, a new commentary has been published by Bonomi and Martin expanding upon their earlier research. Professor Bonomi has graciously approved the sharing of this information on my blog pre-publication, and a link to the article will be live for a week or two. After that, it's a "pay-per-download."
Professor Bonomi states:
"As professionals working in the field, a common question we are asked when leading an investigation and providing expert testimony is how abusers involve their children (directly or indirectly) during jail calls.
In our new commentary, “Jail Calls: What Do Kids Have to Do with It,” published this month in the Journal of Family Violence, we use three case examples from clinical practice to demonstrate how domestic abusers triangulate their children into the abuse dynamic during jail calls: As the three case examples illustrate, domestic abusers use similar strategies with children during the jail calls as they do with their primary victim (e.g., minimizing the abuse, calling up images of a broken family due to impending charges and sentencing), and tend to triangulate their children against the victim.
Please consider sharing the commentary widely with colleague-practitioners (e.g., prosecutors, judges, domestic violence advocates, correctional officers, police officers, investigators, therapists).
David Martin, co-author of this commentary states that among the findings was the importance of advocacy and civil legal aid: “Timely legal assistance and providing access to professional advocates and civil legal attorneys who can help women buffer against abuse and manipulation—including abuse that occurs during phone calls when the abuser is behind bars—are key parts of what works to reduce domestic violence ….Resources need to continue to be provided for legal advocacy for women to level the playing field, including establishing intentional and effective partnerships with civil legal aid attorneys and organizations.”
This commentary may be read (pre-publication) here: <http://rdcu.be/s1Du> After publication obtain the article on Springer Publications http://springer.com
Authors of the commentary that summarizes the findings of this research into witness tampering are:
Amy Bonomi
Professor and Chair
Human Development and Family Studies
Michigan State University
552 W. Circle Drive
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-355-7680
and
David D. Martin | Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
Chair | Domestic Violence Unit |King County Prosecuting Attorney
W554 King County Courthouse
516 Third Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
Citation: Bonomi, Amy, and David Martin. "Jail Calls: What Do Kids Have to Do with It?" Journal of Family Violence, May 25, 2017. Accessed June 23, 2017. http://rdcu.be/s1Du. In publication. Later purchase from Springer Publications http://springer.com
