Intervention Programs, Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a pervasive social problem that has devastating effects on all members of the family, as well as the larger society. Domestic violence includes physical, psychological, verbal, and sexual abuse perpetrated by one intimate partner against another partner. Rates of physical violence vary according to the sample from which they are calculated. The 1995 National Violence Against Women Survey, which measures violence as a criminal behavior, indicated that 22 percent of women and 7 percent of men reported being victimized by an intimate partner at some time in their lives. This entry discusses the history of intervention programs with domestic violence offenders, reviewes the current state of offender treatment, and discusses current issues and challenges in the field.

Prior to the feminist movement in the 1970s, violence in the home was considered largely a private matter. In the 1970s, a group of feminist activists, led by individuals like Erin Pizzey and Susan Schecter, worked to develop a grassroots movement to change the acceptability of wife beating and to provide safety and shelter for female victims of violence. The shelter movement was successful in bringing the issue of male partner violence into the public dialogue and began offering a safe but temporary respite for victims of this violence. Eventually it became clear that simply providing a safe haven for victims was not enough. The work needed to focus not only on providing safety for victims, but also on getting men to stop being violent. Only recently have researchers recognized that women are also violent in relationships and that [Page 912]intervention programs need to be developed to address female violence.

Most of the beginning work developing specialized treatment for domestic violence offenders grew out of the same feminist movement that developed shelters for victims. Advocates used what they learned working with victims to develop treatment for offenders. An emphasis that began in the early days of offender treatment and continues today is on requiring that offenders assume responsibility for their violence and that they are held accountable for the abuse they perpetrate, rather than allowing them to blame the abuse on their partner's behavior, their childhood experiences, or their drinking or drug use. Much of the early work, based on feminist principles, also emphasized changing men's sexist beliefs, which allowed them to believe that they are entitled to control their partner's behavior and to use whatever force is necessary to maintain their role as head of the household. The emphasis on accountability (and punishment) and the belief that men assault women because of patriarchal norms that support male dominance lead to an admonition against using any type of mental health treatment in response to male violence. The belief was that men hit because it works to control women, not because they have any mental illness that could be treated using a mental health perspective.