NCJ Number
138503
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: (1992) Pages: 167-178
Date Published
1992
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Batterer recidivism rates were examined for a sample of 100 men 5 years after community intervention to determine differences between recidivists and nonrecidivists and to identify background and intervention variables that discriminate between batterers who recidivate and those who do not.
Abstract
Forty percent of the 100 men included in the sample drawn from the Duluth (Minnesota) Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) were identified as recidivists either because they were convicted for domestic assault, the subject of a protection order, or a police suspect for domestic assault. Discriminant analysis procedures resulted in the selection of five variables that significantly discriminated between recidivist and nonrecidivist cases: duration of abuse in the relationship, court-ordered chemical dependency evaluation, chemical dependency treatment, child abuse victim in family of origin, and previous convictions for non-assault crimes. For the total sample, 60.6 percent of the cases were classified correctly: 66.7 percent of recidivists and 56.4 percent of nonrecidivists were classified correctly. Study findings indicate the need to emphasize preventive measures, as intervention projects have limited impact upon the behavior of some batterers. 2 tables and 25 references