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How batterers choose to carry out their abuse |
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 In three surveys of women experiencing domestic violence, researchers found that between 37 percent and 45 percent of respondents had been raped by their partners. |
- Browne, Angela (1987).
When Battered Women Kill. New York: The Free Press
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| In 2002, 62.6 percent of spousal murders involved a firearm. |
—Durose, M., et al. (2005). Family violence statistics: Including statistics on strangers and acquaintances. Washington,DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
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| The majority of spouse violence (78.1 percent) and boyfriend/girlfriend violence (64 percent) occurred in the victim’s home. |
| —Ibid. |
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Factors for changing batterers' behavior
Criminal justice and mental health systems are increasingly becoming more involved in domestic violence interventions. Frequently, the focus of batterer interventions is to hold batterers accountable, educate them about the effects their actions have on the victim, and underscore that they must learn and decide to act differently. These batterer intervention programs are only one part of a coordinated community response that delivers a consistent and supportive response to survivors and consequences to batterers.
Because batterers usually don’t voluntarily attend batterer intervention programs, intervention strategies must emphasize zero tolerance for new incidents of abuse. The message must be constantly reinforced that his abuse will be exposed and that he won’t get away with it. Well-established and respected batterer intervention programs recognize and clearly stress that the goals of any program should parallel those of probation: Victim safety must be the first priority, followed by offender accountability and behavior change. Effective batterer intervention programs consult with advocates who work directly with victims of domestic violence to help keep victims safe and to evaluate program practices.
While important, the content of batterer intervention programs seems secondary to the degree to which these programs are integrated into coordinated community responses to domestic violence. A successful batterer intervention program is part of a process that begins with an arrest or the issuance of a protection order and also includes prosecution, sentencing and oversight of the batterer’s subsequent behaviors by the justice system. The effectiveness of batterer intervention programs as a whole is inconclusive, and the limitations of all batterer interventions should be explained to victims to reduce the chance they will have a false sense of security that their partners will be “helped” simply by attending an intervention program.
It’s important to note that anger management and impulse-control classes, and some marital counseling and mediation, are frequently used misguidedly as intervention strategies with batterers. These approaches don’t generally take into account the power imbalances in abusive relationships and don’t adequately emphasize to the batterer that he will be held accountable for his actions.
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