Divorce Mediation and Domestic Violence in the United States, 1993

This study gathered data on policies and procedures for
identifying domestic violence issues among divorcing couples and
examined divorce mediation practices and policies in cases with
allegations of spousal violence. Mediators and court administrators
provided information on: (1) whether and how they attempted to gauge
the level of domestic abuse and the capacity of divorcing parties to
mediate, and (2) common adjustments to the mediation process made to
enhance safety in divorce cases where domestic abuse is present. Data
collection involved a collaboration with the Association of Family and
Conciliation Courts (AFCC) in the administration and analysis of this
survey. Court programs providing divorce mediation and/or custody
evaluations in 1993 were targeted. The questionnaire was mailed in
late 1993 to 200 institutional members of the AFCC and active
providers of family and divorce services in the National Center for
State Courts database. A total of 149 public-sector divorce mediation
and custody/visitation counseling providers responded. Variables
include information on the rules, statutes, or guidelines under which
the program operates, case handling procedures prior to mediation or
custody/visitation evaluations, and procedures used when clients come
to mediation. Information is also provided on the number of paid
professional staff, number of custody/visitation mediations and
evaluations completed, population of the jurisdiction, the program's
relationship to the court, types of orientation programs for parents
provided by the court, if the community had any supervised visitation
services, and the city and state in which the program is located.

本研究收集了针对离婚夫妻家庭暴力问题识别的相关政策与程序数据，并针对存在配偶暴力指控的离婚案件，系统检视了离婚调解的实践模式与相关政策。调解人与法院行政人员提供的调研信息包含两方面：(1) 其是否以及如何尝试评估家庭暴力的严重程度，以及离婚双方参与调解的适配能力；(2) 当案件涉及家庭暴力时，为提升离婚调解过程安全性而做出的常见流程调整。本次数据收集联合美国家庭与和解法院协会（Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, AFCC）完成调查的实施与分析工作。研究选取1993年提供离婚调解及/或子女监护权评估服务的法院项目作为调研对象。调查问卷于1993年末邮寄给美国州法院全国中心（National Center for State Courts）数据库中200名美国家庭与和解法院协会的机构会员，以及家庭与离婚服务的活跃供给方。最终共有149家公共部门离婚调解及监护权/探视权咨询机构完成了问卷回复。调研变量涵盖项目运行所依据的规则、成文法或指南，调解或监护权/探视权评估前的案件处理流程，以及当事人参与调解时所采用的相关程序。此外还收录了以下信息：带薪专业人员数量、已完成的监护权/探视权调解与评估数量、管辖区域的人口规模、项目与法院的隶属关系、法院为父母提供的各类家长培训项目类型、社区是否设有监督探视服务，以及项目所在的城市与州。