  
By Emily Sack, JD, May 2002
These guidelines, funded by the State Justice Institute and published in May, 2002, will assist jurisdictions to determine if a domestic violence court structure would be helpful and if so, how best to model this structure to address the needs of their local communities.
The guidelines include the following topics:
- An examination of the values and principles that should be the foundation of all effective domestic violence courts and case response.
- A discussion of components that are essential to the operation of domestic violence courts.
- An examination of the benefits and challenges of the various domestic violence court models including civil protection order docket, criminal court, integrated court or unified family court.
- A step-by-step action plan for jurisdictions considering the implementation of domestic violence courts.
- Case studies of three different operating domestic violence courts.
- A selected list of literature on domestic violence courts, which can serve as a resource to jurisdictions considering creating a domestic violence court or dedicated docket.
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