TUCSON, ARIZONA – Representatives from Tucson City Court’s Domestic Violence Court attended a Mentor Court meeting in Washington DC last week, hosted by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women. 

    Tucson represented one of only 14 courts selected nationally to serve as “mentors,” in order to help other cities create and sustain domestic violence specialty courts around the country. The meeting allowed the mentors to share local experiences, practice presentations and discuss effective mentoring strategies. 

    “It was an incredible honor to be chosen by the Department of Justice to be one of fourteen Domestic Violence Mentor Courts in the country,” Judge Wendy Million said. “Working with our partners like Emerge, we look forward to continuing to help other courts in Arizona and nationwide develop models that improve victim safety and access to services, and offender accountability and change.”

    In October 2017, Tucson City Court’s Domestic Violence Court was named one of 14 courts nationwide who have been selected by the Justice Department to share their best practices and procedures in the area of domestic violence cases.

     DV mentor courts host site visits for visiting teams of judges, court personnel, and other criminal justice and domestic violence stakeholders. Additionally, they share sample forms and materials and lessons learned from their own community.

    The Court’s collaboration with Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, the Pima County Adult Probation, the Tucson Police Department, the Tucson City Prosecutor’s Office, the City of Tucson Public Defender’s Office, Community Outreach for the Deaf, Marana Health Care, Next Steps Counseling, Perceptions Counseling and most recently, COPE Community Services, is unique in the state of Arizona, and provides a model for collaborated community response to the issue of domestic violence in our community.

     

    MEDIA ADVISORY

    For more information contact:
    Mariana Calvo
    Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse
    Office: (520) 512-5055
    Cell: (520) 396-9369
    marianac@emergecenter.org