October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

“Build it and they will come” is what I had envisioned when I took steps to start a domestic violence program for batterers. I was aware that there were no social service agencies in our county who treated the people who commit acts of violence on their intimate partners. We have a fabulous agency that treats victims of assault. Theoretically, I thought there should be a batterer in treatment for every victim. I felt it was a shame that the perpetrators of violence had to leave our county for batterers education treatment, or were referred to anger management classes, or worse yet, got no treatment at all. So I took steps to create a program that is certified by the state of Illinois. We opened our door to batterers three years ago. But they have not come. We’ve never had enough batterers who were sentenced to treatment in order to start a group. I built it, so why didn’t they come?

What I’ve learned is that I put the cart before the horse. We need a coordinated community response that will ensure that batterers are identified and swiftly sent to treatment. I had assumed that we had an interagency system in place. But after three years of an unsuccessful program, I now realize that is not the case.

Ensuring victims’ safety is the responsibility of the community. When a victim calls 911, they dial into a complex system from dispatch, police, jail, arraignment, prosecutors, warrant departments, probation investigation, to judge. Victims may receive help from pastors, shelters, family or social services. Each of these arms of the social/judicial system needs to coordinate with each other, otherwise, the batterer falls through the cracks.

Each of the agencies and practitioners who respond to a domestic violence case, needs to have programs, policies, procedures in place. Each needs to include well-formulated forms, report formats, assessments, evaluations, and checklists. Each of these forms needs to be reviewed for effectiveness and referral purposes so that at every step of the way, the batterer receives coordinated services and links between every agency. Every step either enhances or compromises victim safety.

We believe that change is possible. But it is not the case that every batterer who enters treatment will change. Many offenders don’t want to change, see nothing wrong with what they did, and would do it again. We don’t know who will remain non-violent over time. We can’t predict. But we can give every batterer an opportunity to change.

When, for example, a man puts his fist through a wall, grabs his partner by the hair, drags her across the room, throws her to the floor, curses, kicks and spits at her, he is not acting alone. He has learned that this behavior is socially acceptable, and that he is entitled to act in this way. This is not simply a problem of mental illness, substance abuse, or poor family modeling. This behavior is a reflection of societal attitudes about norms, gender and hierarchy. Treatment is a process of challenging the batterers beliefs and attitudes that maintain violence.

Not every batterer is motivated for change. But they are more likely to be motivated upon arrest, a protection order, or losing a valued relationship. Sometimes, these negative events have to occur. But we owe it to victims to get the batterers into treatment so that they have an opportunity to look at themselves honestly and choose to be different. They must explore their beliefs about themselves, their expectations of a committed relationship, their core values and beliefs about dominance, and what they ultimately want in life.

We can only do this if we have a coordinated community response.