Beyond Arrest: The Official Responses to IPV: Prosecution, Mediation, and Treatment

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Beyond Arrest The Official Responses to IPV
Prosecution, Mediation, and Treatment

• Michelle L. Meloy, Ph.D.

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Mandatory Prosecution No Drop

• Born out of the Duluth, Minnesota model of
  community intervention-collaboration
• mandatory arrest, coordination between
  police-courts-probation and treatment providers.
  Specialized batterer intervention programs
• Concept of forging ahead with dv cases even w/out
  victim cooperation
• Prosecutors can pursue criminal prosecution using
  only the evidence collected by the police
• Victim-support units located in prosecutors
  offices assist in the prosecution of these cases

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Mandatory Prosecution Competing Interests

• Prosecutors primary concern is well being of the
  state
• Conflicts can arise between individual victims
  security the states desire for deterrence
• Specific deterrence abusers must be officially
  sanctioned, punished treated
• General deterrence potential abusers must learn
  this is a serious crime with serious repercussions

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Mandatory Prosecution

• Hard no-drop policies prohibit victims from
  dismissing a case
• Require victim cooperation/testimony with the
  possibility of legal sanctions against victims

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Mandatory Prosecution

• Soft no-drop policies request but do not
  require victim involvement in the prosecution
  process
• All types of mandatory policies decrease case
  dismissals attrition

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Mandatory Prosecution

• Effectiveness issues unanswered
• Some support for soft no-drop policies
  Indianapolis found women who were allowed to drop
  their charges experienced less violence than
  those victims not allowed to drop charges
• Victim empowerment potential

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Victim advocacy

• Located within and independent of prosecutors
  offices
• Demonstrate concern for victims experience with
  prosecution
• Provide information support about prosecution
  process
• Research suggests that victim advocates
• 1) reduce case attrition
• 2) increase victim satisfaction w/the prosecution
  process
• 3) feelings of victim empowerment
• Victim advocates within prosecutors offices can
  have competing interests

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Battered Womens Shelters

• National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
  (1978)
• Over 2,000 shelters
• 24 hour hotlines
• Support groups-therapy
• Legal assistance
• Emergency housing
• Transition housing
• Child care
• Residential-employment support

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Effectiveness of shelters

• Many women return to abusive relationships after
  their stay at a shelter
• Women who use only shelters and do not augment
  with other social and institutional measures may
  be at increased risk of retaliation from
  batterers
• Women who combine all these measures tend to
  experience less violence in the future

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Mediation

• Informal case processing w/ mediator skilled in
  conflict resolution
• Agreements can avoid case filings, court delays,
  and secondary role for victims
• As court congestion increases so has mediation
  practices
• Underlying assumption equal power, safe secure
  process where both parties can express concerns
  and desires

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Family Violence Mediation pros/cons

• Victim empowerment because they are a central
  party
• Provides alternative for victims who do not
  desire prosecution
• Educates both parties about legal rights
  responsibilities
• Individualized justice tailored agreements
• Participant satisfaction

• No clear offender
• Allows abuser to avoid responsibility criminal
  prosecution
• May reinforce ideas that victims at fault
• May be impossible to equalize power
• Mutual agreement highest priority
• Violence may continue or escalate as contact
  increases

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Batterer Treatment

• Began as specialty in the 1970s
• Most programs are short-term and utilize a
  group-setting
• Nearly all who attend are court mandated
• Child protective services, courts, probation
  make referrals
• Goals include 1) victim safety, 2) changing
  batterers ideas about violence, getting him to
  accept responsibility, and 3) teaching nonviolent
  conflict resolution tactics

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Batterer Treatment

• Duluth Model is the most common w state mandates
  
• mens power control issues are believed to be
  the cause of most IPV
• changing attitudes about men women
  (resocialization),
• changing the concepts of masculinity
• unlearning violence as a resolution strategy

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Psychological/Psychiatric Batterer Treatment

• Cognitive-behavior modification therapy
• Deconstruct faulty thinking and cognitive
  distortions Reinterpret the event (stimuli) and
  find non-violent alternatives to resolve
  conflict
• Other therapeutic goals
• Anger stress management
• Impulse control
• problem-solving skills
• Substance abuse
• Depression

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Psychological/Psychiatric Batterer Treatment

• Couples-Family Systems Approach
• Preservation of marriage is the focus
• Least popular with clinicians and practitioners
• 73 of states with stated standards note this
  treatment as unacceptable
• The marital dynamic (and whole family) is viewed
  as part of the problem and thus part of the
  solution
• No clear cut offender or victim
• May be a practical intervention at the earliest
  stages of abuse, with low-level violence and if
  the victim is not fearful

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Batterer Treatment Research

• IPV offenders especially difficult to treat
• Outcome studies are plagued with methodological
  problems
• poor outcome /or inconsistent measures
• random assignment has been difficult to obtain
• high attrition rates in treatment (drop outs)
• short follow-up periods
• lack of reporting for recidivistic behavior

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Batterer Treatment Outcomes

• Drop outs have higher recidivism rates than
  treatment completers
• Predictions of drop-out undereducated,
  unemployment, no court mandate, substance abuse
  problems
• 2001-2002 experimental design research on the
  Duluth type models suggests a reduction in
  recidivism where earlier studies did not

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Changing Court Practices

• No-drop prosecution
• Specialized units
• Victim advocates
• Criminal charges against victims
• Court sponsored mediation
• Batterer treatment
• Restraining orders