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Batterers and Abusive Partners

There is much debate about the goals of batterers programs and whether or not they are effective in reducing and eliminating woman battering. In evaluating the issue, it is helpful to identify and discuss different approaches and complex tensions that exist in the field of batterer intervention. A greater understanding can be gained by examining the history of batterer intervention programs, including the impact of feminism and the battered women's movement, social work, and the criminal justice system; identifying the range of models used in batterer intervention; reviewing the research on the effectiveness of programs; and considering recommendations for enhanced policy and program developments.

Definition of Terms

The terms domestic violence and battering warrant particular attention.

Domestic violence: for these purposes, the term refers to the pattern of behavior used to maintain power and control over another person in an intimate relationship, including physical and sexual assault, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse. Although other terms such as family violence, spouse abuse, and battered women are often used to refer to this pattern, domestic violence is frequently viewed as the more neutral and encompassing definition.

Battering: Although domestic violence is often used to imply a more encompassing, less value-laden view of the problem, different definitions of battering or abusive behavior lead to different practice implications. Most legislators, as expressed in the laws they pass, consider only the most severe forms of abuse as battering, including various forms of physical attack, some threatening behaviors, and sometimes stalking. These parameters place battering in the category of criminal behavior in most states, along with physical assaults, attempted assaults, and threatening and menacing behavior. Other definitions concentrate on physical violence and include sexual abuse only in accompaniment with physical violence. To encompass the widest range of behaviors associated with battering and domestic violence, for these purposes, the term will encompass both criminal and noncriminal behavior unless otherwise noted.

Scope of the Problem

The prevalence of domestic violence among intimate partners is overwhelming in American society. Approximately 8 million women report being battered by boyfriends, spouses, or ex-spouses annually (Roberts, 2002). Approximately 2,000 battered women are killed by the batterers, and 750 battered women kill their intimate partners each year (Roberts, 2002). However, not all domestic violence is lethal or life threatening in nature. In fact, the duration and severity of woman battering varies across the life span from pushes, shoves, and slaps briefly sustained by high school and college age women to aggravated assault, permanent scars, and serious injuries endured by chronically battered women.

A continuum of the duration, severity, and outcomes among different levels of woman battering was recently developed on the basis of 501 cases (Roberts, 2002). This study (and the continuum that was developed) has practical implications for the type of interventions that seem more likely to be effective with certain types of batterers. For example, “short-term batterers,” who commit one to three low-level incidents including yelling, pushing, shoving, and throwing things, should receive different types of intervention than the chronic weekly or “weekend” batterer who abuses his partner repeatedly for many years with increasing severity (e.g., broken bones, concussions). Several different typologies and profiles of batterers have been developed over the past decade. These typologies are usually based on demographic, sociological, psychological, psychiatric, and criminal justice history characteristics and attributes. Because the criminal justice system usually classifies offenders on the basis of low-versus high-level risk of dangerousness, the batterer characteristics usually receiving the most attention are criminal history, mental illness, and substance abuse history.

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