NCJ Number
206688
Journal
Criminal Justice Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2004 Pages: 173-197
Date Published
May 2004
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article critiques the effort of the National Probation Service of England and Wales to establish standardized cognitive behavioral interventions for men who are violent toward their female intimate partners.
Abstract
The first half of the article explores why a "pro-feminist cognitive behavioral model" has become the standard approach for working with perpetrators of domestic violence in the United Kingdom. The author argues that the reasons this model has become widely used have less to do with evidence-based policy than with the ability of the cognitive-behavioral discourse to manage the tensions between the feminist critique of men's violence, the various aims of the criminal justice system, and the state and public's desire to punish violent men. The second half of the article develops the thesis that the alliances forged around cognitive-behavioral interventions have made it difficult for policymakers and social researchers to think seriously about violent men's own needs. The narrow focus on the immediate outcomes of interventions have meant that few research studies have focused on either the meaning violence holds for its perpetrators or the connections between abusive behavior and violent masculinity. The author addresses this shortcoming through a critical analysis of a self-professed perpetrator's life story. The author concludes that without a greater acknowledgement of the criminal justice system's tendency to further brutalize violent offenders, perpetrators with court-mandated probation interventions who anticipate "cures" for their violent behavior will become increasingly resistant to treatment strategies that are not able to produce behavioral change. Research strategies that attempt to understand the world from the perspectives of client groups are required to counter this trend. 11 notes and 87 references