Description: This week we are speaking with Barbara Hart. Barbara will share the rich history of her work in the movement to end domestic violence.
Barbara J. Hart, J. D. has finally retired, maybe. Related to this podcast, Barbara wrote the first book Safety for Women: Monitoring Batterers Programs on standards for batterer intervention services, published in1988 and the guidelines for services for untold #s of BIPs in the 40 years hence. This occurred when she was Legal Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. David has made that volume available to those subscribing to this podcast. Barbara also wrote the 2004 edition of Safety for Women, which is available online. That edition contains a summary of the Visions Forum, an event that shaped the men's movement to end violence against women over the course of the next several decades. The third edition of Safety for Women is now being drafted by a consultant of PCA DVD and a member of the initial BIS Network and should be available online soon.
Turning to a more traditional format for a biographical statement...Barbara's last regular gig was as a consultant to the National Bulletin on Domestic Violence Prevention, of West publication which unfortunately closed it in the fall of 2023. Barbara collaborated with Andy Klein, the editor, and she co-authored with Eve and Carl Buzawa the 6th edition of Responding to Domestic Violence, a college textbook originally dating back to the first years of the movement.
At the Muskie School of Public Service of the University of Southern Maine from the early teens until 2017 Barbara was the Director of Strategic Justice and Violence Against Women Initiatives in the Justice Policy Program of the Cutler Institute on Health and Social Policy.
She was the Principal Investigator on the Violence Against Women Measuring Effectiveness Initiative, the Tri-County Advocacy Project, and Community Assessment of Firearms Retrieval Systems. She sits on the Maine Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel that produces bi-annual reports and recommendations for systemic reforms to eliminate domestic fatalities.
Her work has included public policy development, training, and technical assistance on a broad range of issues including: analysis and critique of social science research on violence against women; advocacy for victims; risk assessment and safety planning; civil legal representation of victims; firearm retrieval from abusers; economic justice and security for survivors; systems to monitor batterer intervention programs; implementation of coordinated community intervention systems; development and critique of legislation; construction of court procedures and standards; consultation on impact litigation; development of fatality review processes; and design of training curricula. She has served as a leader in the national efforts to implement the Violence Against Women Act.
She hosts a series of national/international webinars designed to create discourse between prominent researchers and expert practitioners. Web libraries and recordings are produced for each webinar and can be found on the Battered Women’s Justice Project website.
Ms. Hart writes monthly legal and legacy columns for the National Bulletin on Domestic Violence Prevention, a West publication.
