NCJ Number
174529
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 41 Issue: 1 Dated: March 1997 Pages: 9-23
Date Published
1997
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article assesses long-term effectiveness of treatment for wife assault.
Abstract
The impact of court-ordered treatment for wife assault was assessed by monitoring for up to 11 years (mean = 5.2 years) 156 men who had completed such treatment. This group was compared with a group of 167 dropouts from treatment (noncompleters), 32 men rejected for treatment because of resistance or denial (rejects), and 91 men who never appeared for their treatment assessment (no shows). Whereas time-to-failure did not reveal significant differences between groups, a recidivism ratio (total repeat offenses per man-in-group) revealed significantly lower recidivism rates for treatment completers (.23 versus .50). No shows recidivated at a rate equal to completers. Findings suggest that therapists might use better pretreatment screening procedures. Certain personality profiles make men poor risks for treatment and, given tight resources, therapists may want to exclude such men from court-mandated groups. Similarly, within each of the current groups there may be a subgroup for whom therapy is unnecessary. Surveys indicate that one-third of men desist from wife assault without criminal justice intervention. Tables, references