Title: Research on Violence Against Indian Women. Series: NIJ Solicitation Author(s): NIJ Published: National Institute of Justice, May 1999 Subject(s): Native Americans, domestic violence, and victim services 10 pages 20,000 bytes ------------------------------ This is an ASCII plain-text file. To view this document in its graphic format, download the Adobe Acrobat graphic file available from this Web site or order a print copy from NCJRS at 800-851-3420 (877-712-9279 For TTY users). ------------------------------ U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice National Institute of Justice Solicitation Jeremy Travis, Director May 1999 Research on Violence Against Indian Women APPLICATION DEADLINE: July 9, 1999 ------------------------------ U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs 810 Seventh Street NW Washington, DC 20531 Janet Reno Attorney General Raymond C. Fisher Associate Attorney General Laurie Robinson Assistant Attorney General Noel Brennan Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Travis Director, National Institute of Justice For grant and funding information contact: Department of Justice Response Center: 800-421-6770 Office of Justice Programs World Wide Web Site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov National Institute of Justice World Wide Web Site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij ------------------------------ Research on Violence Against Indian Women I. Introduction The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), in collaboration with the Office of Justice Programs' Violence Against Women Office (VAWO), is soliciting proposals for research on violence against women issues among Native Americans. Grants will be awarded in conjunction with the S.T.O.P. (Services-Training-Officers-Prosecutors) Violence Against Indian Women Discretionary Grant Program. The purpose of this program is to reduce violent crimes against Indian women. The program encourages tribal governments both to develop and implement effective strategies tailored to address their unique circumstances in responding to violent crimes against Indian women, and to develop and enhance services provided to Indian women who are victims of violent crimes. NIJ encourages both qualitative and quantitative research proposals. NIJ has allocated $450,000 for this solicitation and anticipates awarding up to 4 grants for a period of 24 months. ------------------------------ NIJ is streamlining its process to accommodate the volume of proposals anticipated under this and other solicitations. Researchers can help in a significant way by sending NIJ a nonbinding letter of intent by June 3, 1999. The Institute will use these letters to forecast the numbers of peer panels it needs and to identify conflicts of interest among potential reviewers. There are two ways to send these letters. You can reach NIJ by Internet by sending e-mail to tellnij@ncjrs.org and identifying the solicitation and section(s) for which you expect to apply. You can write a letter with the same information to National Institute of Justice, Research on Violence Against Indian Women, 810 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC 20531. ------------------------------ II. Background Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The Act responds to the needs of millions of women who are the victims of violence each year. It also responds to the need for fundamental changes in addressing violence against women, and it responds to the special needs of women in minority and Native American communities who are violently victimized. The VAWA addresses these needs through a variety of provisions, including: a grant program to strengthen law enforcement, prosecution, and victim services in cases involving violent crimes against women; grants to prevent crime on public transportation and in parks; education and prevention grants to reduce sexual assaults against women; a national domestic violence hotline that opened in February 1996; penalties under Federal law for sex crimes; and a variety of other provisions and studies directed toward reducing violence against women and improving responses to women who are victims of violent crime. There are a variety of programs that are a part of NIJ's overall Violence Against Women and Family Violence Program. These programs include many research and evaluation projects undertaken in collaboration with the Violence Against Women Office (VAWO). The VAWO in the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is dedicated to enhancing victim safety and ensuring offender accountability by supporting policies, protocols, and projects that call for zero tolerance of all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. VAWO administers one formula and five discretionary grant programs authorized by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). One of the programs that specifically addresses the needs of Indian women is the S.T.O.P. Violence Against Women Discretionary Grants Program. The VAWA requires that 4 percent of the annual appropriation for the Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program be available to Indian tribal governments. The S.T.O.P. Violence Against Indian Women Discretionary Grant Program is intended to reduce violent crimes against Indian women by providing Federal financial assistance to Indian tribal governments to develop and strengthen the justice system's responses to violent crimes against Indian women. The program encourages tribal governments to develop and implement effective strategies tailored to address their unique circumstances, and to implement a coordinated approach to reduce violent crimes against Indian women and enhance their safety. To ensure the development of a coordinated approach, the VAWA requires that at least 25 percent of the total grant award be allocated to law enforcement; 25 percent to prosecution; and 25 percent to nonprofit, nongovernmental victim services programs. Research on violence against women in Native communities is greatly needed. To date, no literature exists that accurately reflects lifetime prevalence rates of partner violence within or among Native groups. The literature that does exist, however, indicates areas of concern. One study suggests that Native Americans are at a significantly greater risk of violence than other Americans.[1] Another study found that the rate of homicide for American Indians/Alaska Natives was approximately twice as high as the national rates in the United States.[2] Data from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) show that Native American and Alaska Native women are more likely to be stalked than women of other race/ethnicity groups.[3] The survey also found that American Indian/Alaska Native women were significantly more likely to disclose victimization by rape and physical assault than women of other racial/ethnic backgrounds.[4] Data from the second National Family Violence Survey found that Native couples were significantly more violent (although not mutually violent) than Anglo-American couples (7.2 vs. 5.3 per 100 couples).[5] However, the relatively small number of Native people surveyed[6] and the failure to make a distinction between tribal affiliations in these studies, makes it difficult to draw conclusions about prevalence rates or tribal differences in violence against women. Little is known about the extent of different forms of violence against women among Native American populations, diverse cultural responses, or the effectiveness of victims' services. Research studies aimed at studying these and other Native American issues related to violence against women are strongly encouraged. III. Areas of Research Requested Proposals are encouraged for basic research and evaluation studies aimed at improving our understanding of violence against Indian women in Native American communities. The first recommended study area involves a prevalence and incidence study. The second area encourages the development of proposals to investigate special topic areas. Topics that have not been widely researched may be better suited to a descriptive study approach. A. Prevalence and Incidence Study: Since little is known about the incidence and prevalence of violence against women in Native Lands, including differences that may exist among tribes,[7] NIJ encourages proposals directed toward instrumentation development for measuring prevalence and incidence rates with an understanding and sensitivity to Native cultures. Since a National study that would investigate all tribes is not possible under the budget limitations of this solicitation, NIJ encourages the development of a pilot study in a single geographic area where more than one tribal community is represented. Such a pilot study would be considered a first step that would involve the construction and fielding of culturally sensitive instruments that, to the extent possible, parallel existing National instruments such as NVAWS and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).[8] B. Special Topic Areas: Other topics for study include but are not limited to: --Enforcing the provisions of the VAWA in Tribal Courts; --Factors affecting the safety of Indian women in Public Law 280 States; --Effectiveness of batterer reeducation--an examination of Native-specific versus non-Native curriculums; --Level of shelter services provided to Indian women beyond S.T.O.P. (number of shelters, number of beds available, shelter services provided, services to assist children in shelter, location of shelters); --Patterns of abuse perpetrated against both Native mothers and their children; and --Impact of domestic violence training on tribal response/justice systems. The above list is not exhaustive or intended to limit the applicant. Any research that has the potential to reduce the level of violence against women, increase the safety of women, and provide useful findings for improving programs in Native American communities will be considered. Applicants need to demonstrate a contextualized understanding of the historical, social, cultural, and political experiences of Native Americans in their literature reviews and this understanding must be reflected in the design of the proposed studies. C. Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships. Over the years, NIJ has supported research that has been useful in modifying practice and formulating policy. Much of this research has been conducted in cooperation with a variety of practitioners including, criminal justice officials, victim services providers, and victim advocates. This solicitation encourages researchers to partner with a non-profit, non- governmental victim service organization that serves battered or sexually assaulted Indian women in the jurisdiction where the research is to be conducted. Such researcher-practitioner collaborations are intended to provide the researcher with a deeper understanding of the demographic and cultural dimensions of the targeted jurisdiction. This understanding is important to problem identification, gaining access to and retaining study participants, the development of culturally sensitive instrumentation for measuring patterns of violence against women, and the interpretation of study findings. Regular meetings between the researcher and practitioner agency necessitates that the partnership be locally-based. Partnerships may be newly formed or may build on existing relationships. Beyond the requirement that the partners be locally based, the exact composition of the partnership is not specified by NIJ. A number of factors have been found to be critical in the development of successful partnerships. These include a shared vision, problem-solving orientation, clear definition of roles and responsibilities, effective communication, continuity of personnel, and having benefits to all partners. An essential element of the application is that it reflect a genuine collaboration regardless of who may have initiated the effort. The application must clearly demonstrate a commitment to the researcher-practitioner partnership on the part of all parties involved. The specification of the role of each member of the researcher-practitioner partnership is important in ensuring high quality, culturally sensitive, and technically feasible proposals. The basic partnership concept is that a researcher will work cooperatively with victim service providers, advocates, other relevant justice system partners, and perhaps abused women and survivors to ensure valid and reliable research results. If service providers, advocates and/or other justice system practitioners are to deepen their understanding of the prevalence, incidence, and nature of violence against women in their tribal communities, as well as gain new knowledge about how to measure such patterns of violence, they must be directly involved with the ongoing research, from the development of the proposal to the interpretation and dissemination of the results. If researchers are to understand what goals and purposes service providers, advocates, and justice practitioners seek to achieve, researchers must work closely with them. The ultimate goal of these collaborations is to benefit all parties to the researcher-practitioner partnership during and beyond the Federal funding period. The partnerships should offer service providers and advocates with a resource for policy-relevant research. They should also afford researchers the means and opportunity to contribute to the growing body of knowledge that can be used to effectively address violence against women. Methodological Considerations. Regardless of the specific topic area or approach described above, the need for innovation, particularly on qualitative measures, culturally sensitive measures, and the need for many different levels of data is acknowledged. Victims, advocates, and knowledgeable criminal justice practitioners should be brought into the various stages of the research process whenever appropriate. Dissemination of Results. NIJ is interested in expeditious and innovative methods to disseminate the results from all projects supported under this solicitation. Methods that would supplement the more traditional disseminations are encouraged. Results of projects are expected to be reported to NIJ as they become available, and at a minimum, through semi- annual progress reports. Applicants should provide a discussion of the types of reports or products that would become available over the course of the project. An annual grantee meeting should be anticipated and applicants should budget travel expenses for the principal investigator for each year of the grant to participate in these grantee meetings. The meetings will be held in Washington, D.C. ------------------------------ Notes 1. Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes, "Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey," Research in Brief (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, November 1998). 2. Wallace, L. J. D., Calhoun, A. D., Powell, J., O'Neill, J., and James, S. P., Homicide and Suicide Among Native Americans 1979-1992, Violence Surveillance Summary Series, No. 2, Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 1996. 3. Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes, "Stalking in America: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey," Research in Brief (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, April 1998), pp. 4-5. 4. Tjaden and Thoennes supra Note 1 at 5. 5. Bachman, R. (1992). Death and violence on the reservation: Homicide, family violence and suicide in American Indian populations. Westport, CT: Auburn House. 6. For example, the Bachman et al. study included 204 American Indian/Alaska Native people; and the Tjaden and Thoennes studies included 88 and 193, respectively. 7. See for example, West, C. (1998). "Lifting the 'political gag order': Breaking the silence around partner violence in ethnic minority families", In J. L. Jasinski & L. M. Williams (Eds.), Partner Violence: A comprehensive review of 20 years of research, pp. 184-209. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Chester, B., Robin, R. W., Koss, M. P., Lopez, J., & Goldman, D. (1994). Grandmother dishonored: Violence against women by male partners in American Indian communities. Violence and Victims, 9(3), 249-258. 8. For a discussion of the differences between the NVAW Survey and the NCVS, see Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes supra Note 1 at 4-5. IV. How to Apply Those interested in submitting proposals in response to this solicitation must complete the required application forms and submit related required documents. (See below for how to obtain application forms and guides for completing proposals.) Applicants must include the following information/forms to qualify for consideration: --Standard Form (SF) 424--application for Federal assistance. The budget amount for the entire length of the project must be placed in box 15 of the SF 424. --Assurances --Certifications Regarding Lobbying, Debarment, Suspension and Other Responsibility Matters; and Drug-Free Workplace Requirements (one form) --Disclosure of Lobbying Activities --Budget Detail Worksheet --Budget Narrative (the project funding requested on the SF 424 should reflect the cost of the entire project) --Negotiated indirect rate agreement (if appropriate) --Names and affiliations of all key persons from applicant and subcontractor(s), advisors, consultants, and advisory board members. Include name of principal investigator, title, organizational affiliation (if any), department (if institution of higher education), address, phone, and fax --Proposal abstract --Table of contents --Program narrative or technical proposal --Privacy certificate --References --Letters of cooperation from organizations collaborating in the research project --Resumes --Appendixes, if any (e.g., list of previous NIJ awards, their status, and products [in NIJ or other publications]) Proposal abstract. The proposal abstract, when read separately from the rest of the application, is meant to serve as a succinct and accurate description of the proposed work. Applicants must concisely describe the research goals and objectives, research design, and methods for achieving the goals and objectives. Summaries of past accomplishments are to be avoided, and proprietary/confidential information is not to be included. Length is not to exceed 400 words. Use the following two headers: Project Goals and Objectives: Proposed Research Design and Methodology: Page limit. The number of pages in the "Program Narrative" part of the proposal must not exceed 30 (double-spaced pages) for awards of $50,000 or more; for smaller awards (under $50,000), the maximum page length is 15 (double-spaced pages). Due date. Completed proposals must be received at the National Institute of Justice by the close of business on July 9, 1999. Extensions of this deadline will not be permitted. Award period. In general, NIJ limits its grants and cooperative agreements to a maximum period of 24 months. However, longer budget periods may be considered. Number of awards. NIJ anticipates supporting up to 4 grants under this solicitation. Award amount. Awards totaling $450,000 will be made available for this NIJ solicitation. Applying. Two packets need to be obtained: (1) application forms (including a sample budget worksheet) and (2) guidelines for submitting proposals (including requirements for proposal writers and requirements for grant recipients). To receive them, applicants can: --Access the Justice Information Center on the web: http://www.ncjrs.org/fedgrant.htm#NIJ or the NIJ web site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/NIJ/funding.htm These web sites offer the NIJ application forms and guidelines as electronic files that may be downloaded to a personal computer. --Request hard copies of the forms and guidelines by mail from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 800-851-3420 or from the Department of Justice Response Center at 800-421-6770 (in the Washington, D.C., area, at 202-307-1480). --Request copies by fax. Call 800-851-3420 and select option 1, then option 1 again for NIJ. Code is 1023. Guidance and information. Applicants who wish to receive additional guidance and information may contact the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center at 800-421-6770. Center staff can provide assistance or refer applicants to an appropriate NIJ professional. Applicants may, for example, wish to discuss their prospective research topics with the NIJ professional staff. Send 3 copies (one with original signatures) of completed forms to: Research on Violence Against Indian Women National Institute of Justice 810 Seventh Street N.W. Washington, DC 20531 [overnight courier ZIP code 20001] SL000359 ------------------------------ To find out more information about the National Institute of Justice, please contact: National Criminal Justice Reference Service Box 6000 Rockville, MD 20849-6000 800-851-3420 e-mail: askncjrs@ncjrs.org To obtain an electronic version of this document, access the NIJ web site (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij). If you have any questions, call or e-mail NCJRS.