Perpetrators of Domestic Violence - An Overview of Counseling the Court-Mandated Client (From Domestic Violence on Trial, P 155-173, 1987, Daniel Jay Sonkin, ed. - See NCJ-104721)

• NCJ Number: 104730
• Author(s): A L Ganley
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Copter's Incorporated
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The rationale behind, components of, and clinical and program issues surrounding court-mandated counseling of those who batter are discussed.

Abstract

Court-ordered treatment of batterers has emerged as an intervention to end domestic violence and protect victims from further abuse. It is a response to increasing recognition that domestic violence is a crime, that the batterer tends to deny responsibility for or minimize the seriousness of the battering, and that a rehabilitative criminal justice system response is most appropriate in family violence cases. Programs for men who batter have the primary goal of ending the physically, sexually, and psychologically abusive behavior. Most programs emphasize the client's accountability for his attitudes, emotions, and behaviors and his responsibility for changing them. Most employ psychoeducational therapeutic approaches and group formats. Issues that must be addressed if court-ordered counseling is to be effective include those common to all programs for batterers: victim safety, coordinating victim services, ongoing assessment of lethality, client motivation for change, and evaluation of program effectiveness. Others are specific to programs for the mandated client. These include the collaborative roles of the counselor and the criminal justice system, defining those roles for the client, and the exchange of information between the counselor and the criminal justice system. 24 references.