Beyond the Duty to Warn: A Therapist's Duty to Protect Battered Women and Children (From Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse, 1988, P 234-248, Kersti Yllo and Michele Bograd, eds. -- See NCJ-142227)

• NCJ Number: 142238
• Author(s): B Hart
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Instructional Material
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter explores both the current legal and ethical standards applicable to therapeutic practice that relate to warning intended victims of dangers presented by clients as well as the rationale for a broad duty to protect.

Abstract

Three specific protection strategies should be exercised by therapists to enhance the safety and empowerment of battered women and children whose abusers receive therapeutic and educational intervention services: assessment of the lethality of batterers, information dissemination to the battered woman, and intervention against male bonding activities. At present, the duty to warn is a legal and ethical standard, but the mere warning of victims upon determining that a batterer represents a serious danger fails to suffice in achieving the balance between victim protection and batterer rehabilitation. To safeguard battered women, duty to protect must become the new standard. 10 notes and 4 references