Domestic Violence Treatment for the Batterer: Does It Work?

In reading the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper today, I see an article of a domestic violence victim. Lynette Butler fears for her safety. Although she took her husband to court and received an order of protection, she feels afraid. Her husband, Maurice Martin, was fitted with a GPS device so that Lynette can be alerted if he is within a certain distance of her. In spite of this device, he has violated the order of protection and is alleged to have tampered with her car, stalked her and harassed her on the phone. The GPS system failed to notify her on two occasions when he was within the “exclusion zone.” The judicial system cannot always protect domestic violence victims.

Victim treatment services include a 24-hour crisis hotline, legal and medical advocacy, counseling, violence prevention and education programs. Legal advocates work with the judicial system toward orders of protection. The number of victims who seek help far outweighs the number of batterers that seek help.

Mortality rates are high for this population of people. In one out of every three homicides in the country in which adult women are the victims, the woman was killed by her husband or live-in partner. One-fifth of all homicides involve one spouse killing another. Clearly, abusers need treatment.

Instead of treating victims, programs for domestic violence batterers treat the cause. Treatments for abusers are designed for the safety of victims and their children. The program’s focus is to hold the perpetrator accountable for their actions and to reduce and prevent intimate partner violence. Its premise is that abusers are capable of change. They are capable of making non-violent, non-abusive and non-controlling choices.

Here’s the problem: most abusers do not enter treatment. Many cases of violence go unreported and do not come to the attention of the judicial system. Abusers do not self-refer for therapy. It is rarely the case that an abuser presents themselves as needing help. Batterers programs are largely composed of people who are court ordered for treatment.

In my community of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, we have a low utilization of domestic violence treatment programs. In an ideal world, one might think that there is an abuser in treatment for every victim receiving treatment. Not even close. According to the states attorneys office, fifty-two people in our community were reported as victims of criminal domestic assault between 7/1/13 – 6/30/14 to the States Attorney’s Office. Our local victim’s treatment center, Riverview Center, reported 163 adult victims were provided services in the 2014 calendar year. Yet only one abuser was referred and completed the batterers program at Galena Clinic in 2013; three abusers were referred to treatment in 2014 but only one completed the program. It is of note that two of the three were not referred within the Jo Daviess court system (one transferred from out of state, and another was mandated from DCFS). We currently have three perpetrators of violence in treatment for 2015.

Why are there so few abusers being court ordered to treatment? Approximately 25% of domestic assault charges per year are dismissed. In addition, there are generally two charges per year that are dismissed because they are charges more appropriate for Child and Family Services intervention. Some people are found to be more appropriate for substance abuse treatment because they acted aggressively when drunk, and it was their first charge. Some cases are dismissed because both the perpetrator and the victim fled the area and cannot be contacted. Some cases go to trial, at which time the alleged perpetrator pleads not-guilty and the victim denies an assault occurred. Perpetrators who commit felony charges are not appropriate for a batterers program. They are sent to prison and may not be required to receive treatment upon release. Additionally, some abusers may be sentenced to treatment but fail to comply and are in violation of probation. It is also the case that there is lack of awareness of a treatment program for batterers within the judicial system, including attorneys who are not aware of available program funding.

Most batterers are not motivated to change until they are threatened with jail, or if their partners leave. They don’t want to participate in treatment and may not have an internal motivation to stop abusing their partners. They may lack the capacity for critical self-reflection. And, once the pressure is off, they may revert to old behavior. Violence has worked for them. When they abuse someone, they get what they wanted. But some abusers do change.

For the people who do complete treatment, research regarding effectiveness is mixed. One study demonstrated that treatment has a modest but positive effect upon violence prevention. For example, program outcomes control and reduce the danger of physical violence, but rarely eliminate the pattern of dominance in a relationship. A 2003 report by the World Health Organization found that about two-thirds of the people who complete a batterers program remain non-violent for up to three years. Another study showed that those who completed a program were two-thirds less likely to physically assault their partners as those who dropped out of a program. Other studies show little success at preventing further abuse.

Whatever the outcome of batterers treatment, we owe it to Lynette Butler and victims like her to do what we can to ensure their safety. The world is a safer place if we could close the loopholes and get more abusers into domestic violence treatment. Treatment for the abuser cannot work if the batterer is not required to attend treatment.