Session 5 Direct Service for Men Who Batter

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• Kantor and Asdigian (1993) identified three pathways linking violence and abuse in the family of origin to current woman abuse:

 
• the direct effect of observing parental violence,

 
• HOWEVER: most men who experience family of origin violence are not violent w/ partner

 
• a low level of education

 
• HOWEVER: most men with less than high school education are not violent w/ partners

 
• multi-generational heavy drinking

 
• HOWEVER: most children of alcoholics and most active alcohics are NOT violent w/ partners

 
• Conclude: there is no single factor which, when present, more than 50% of those w/ that factor will be violent w/partner, HOWEVER, the more risk factors a man has, the more likely he will be a batterer

 
• key risk factors (personal)
• low income
• substance abuse
• mental illness
• violence in the family of origin
• high hostility
• lacks spouse-specific assertiveness
• negative beliefs about women
• acceptance of situational violence
• other forms of abuse (fighting, stalking, harassment)
• gender role rigidity
• homophobia
• racism

 
• key risk factors (interpersonal)

 
• divorce
• distance to extended family
• dense (non-radial) or limited networks

 
• key risk factors (societal)
• racial, gender, sexual inequality
• isolation of nuclear families
• religious fundamentalism
• women's less access to divorce

 
• Conclude: the only way to identify a batterer is to ask his victim

 
• O'Leary (1993) sees two distinct kinds of violence:

 
• pathological

 
• high violence
• high coercion
• severe physical aggression
• lower freq
• early onset

 
• normative

 
• low violence
• later onset
• higher frequency
• "mutual combat"

 
• the perception of different kinds of violence sets the stage for thinking there are different kinds of batterers

 
• There ARE different kinds, but don't know if thats important
• Tri-fold typology

 
• family-only (normal)

 
• dysphoric/borderline (unstable)

 
• generally violent (anti-social)

 

• if different types are accepted, three implications:

 
• different causal variables predict each type

 
• different interventions are required

 
• prevention may deter movement from lower to higher level of violence

 
• Screening & Assessment [HANDOUTS]

 
• Not safe to screen batterers UNLESS he knows all men are screened

 
• If screen, must intervene

 
• victim safety is the greatest consideration

 
• Interventions for Men Who Batter

 
• Criminal Justice Interventions

 
• protective orders

 
• 60 percent of the women report being abused in the year after the order was granted (Harrell, Smith, & Newmark, 1993).

 
• Most women are satisfied with OP, although they use it different than justice system wants them to

 
• e.g. variable access
• e.g. use it to regulate his behavior

 
• arrest: The single-most effective intervention for batterers

 
• Minneapolis Experiment (1981)

 
• compares 3 randomly assigned interventions:

 
• arrest
• order offender from premisis for 24 hours
• try to restore order (mediate or counsel)

 
• arrest was significantly more likely to result in lower recidivism next 6 mos.

 
• 6 replications of Minneapolis experiment:

 
• Ohmaha -- Dunford, Huizinga, & Elliot (1989) [no difference]

 
• Milwaukee -- Sherman, Smith, Schmidt, & Rogan (1992) [interactiuon effect between outcome and stake in conformity]

 
• Charlotte -- Hirschel, Hutchison, Dean, kelly, & Pesackis (1990) [no difference]

 
• Colorado Springs -- Berk, Campbell, Klap, & Western (1990) [no difference]

 
• •compared OP+arrest v. OP+cnslg v. OP v. mediation

 
• no intervention at any site performed better than arrest: => one can do no better than arresting the offender

 
• prosecution

 
• Ford found that victim-controlled preosecution resulted in lower recidivism

 
• effectiveness of mandatory (victimless) prosecution not supported

 
• sentencing

 
• Dutton (1995) estimates 25 of every 100 arrests lead to some sort of punishment for the batterer.

 
• incarceration may be harmful to the batterer's victim in terms of lost economic support and loss of relationship,

 
• Tolman (1996) suggests a variety of sanctions which may reduce some of these incongruities, including

 
• day incarceration,
• weekend incarceration,
• home confinement,
• intensive probation,
• community service,
• batterer intervention programs, and
• restitution.

 
• Batterers Intervention Programs--shaped by the twin forces of feminist philosophy and the need for practical thinking and behaving skills necessary to choose non-violence.

 
• Goals

 
• Justice--Extending criminal sanctions and accountability

 
• Rehabilitation--Changing individual attitudes and behavior

 
• Public Safety--Victims are "the real clients"

 
• Community Intolerance for Partner Violence--The community is the "client"

 

• Anger Management

 
• Anger is a label attached to arousal, and is not itself a primary emotion

 
• anger does not "well up and explode"

 
• anger does not cause violence, but the individual's interpretation of what is causing their anger determines their behavior

 
• cognitive appraisal of the meaning of a situation determines how an individual will react in the situation

 
• if a man perceives an injustice, they may view that injustice as causing their bad feelings, their anger will therefore be justified

 
• if, in addition to their anger being justified by injustice, they believe that violence is an acceptable response to injustice, the risk of violence is greatly increased

 
• this approach to understanding violence suggests that intervention can be directed at

 
• altering individual's meaning-making ability (cognitive skill)

 
• altering beliefs and attitudes justifying violence under conditions of injustice (belief systems)

 
• increasing individual's skill at resolving situations where they do feel conflict, injustice (social skill)

 
• increasing an individuals support system to moderate the effects of belief and skill deficits (social support)

 
• changing social conditions which incubate violence (social change)

• Beliefs about the acceptability of violence

 
• 31% of all men and 25% of all women believe it is ok to batter a wife under certain conditions (Finn)
• particularly infidelity

 
• in a study of 1,700 South Carolina high school students, 57% of girls and 65% of boys believe it is acceptable for a man to force a woman to have sex if they have been dating for more than 6 months. (Teens express themselves, 1988)

 
• Typical Elements of Batterer Programs

 
• (Illinois Protocol for Partner Abuse Intervention Programs)

 
• Evaluation

 
• Contact with victims
• safety checks
• giving information
• firewall paradigm

 
• Orientation process

 
• Contract for services

 
• Group-based program

 
• Decrease a batterer's sense of isolation and beliefs in his exceptionality
• Improve interpersonal skills
• Offer mutual aid
• Identify and develop expertise in critical areas
• Maximize confrontation of denial and inappropriate behavior
• Develop a norm for personal and social change
• Maximize rewards for change (Stordeur & Still, 1989)
• Increase negative male bonding
• Provide a celebration of men's dominance over women
• Enhance misogyny
• Promote collusion between therapist and batterer
• Increase the risk to victims

 
• Program completion criteria

 
• time served v. competence [handout]

 
• Post-completion maintenance [less typical]

 
• Batterer Groups

 
• 1½ to 2½ hours for 16 (Illinois minimum) to 52 weeks

 
• Semi-structured (use a curriculum)

 
• Mixed competency & time-served approach

 
• Co-facilitated (male-female team)

 
• Popular Models: Duluth, EMERGE (MA), DAP (MN), RAVEN (MO), AMEND (CO)

 
• Interventions For Batterers To Worry About (Good programs, but not sufficient for batterers)

 
• Self help groups 

 
• Couples counseling

 
• Anger management programs

 
• Anything with "Compassion" or "Forgiveness" in the title 

 
• Men's personal growth groups

 
• Psychotherapy

 
• Medication

 
• Pastoral programs

 
• Current Issues Facing Batterer Programs

 
• Effectiveness

 
• Criminal justice v. mental health perspectives

 
• Standards for batterer programs

 
• Link between batterer programs and other community services, especially programs for battered women,substance abuse agencies, and mental health agencies

 
• Cultural competence of batterer programs and their staff

 
• Women arrested for domestic violence 

 
• Programs for gay batterers and lesbian batterers

 
• Future of Abuser Services

 
• Develop new knowledge of battering and related forms of social control

 
• Extend services to underserved populations

 
• Develop culturally competent interventions

 
• Advocate for responsible fatherhood across cultures

 
• Redefine role of batterer programs as only one of a number of inter