An examination of the impact of community‐based rehabilitation on the offending behaviour of male domestic violence offenders and the characteristics associated with recidivism

Abstract

Purpose. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of completing a community‐based rehabilitation programme on both the rate of domestic violence reoffending, and time to first post‐treatment offence within an 11‐month follow‐up period. In addition, the pre‐treatment psychological, demographic, and offending history characteristics of recidivists were examined. Methods. Prior to attending West Midlands Probation Area's Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programme (DVPP), 86 male offenders completed a battery of six psychometric tests. The tests were the Novaco Anger Scale, Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating, Abusive Behaviour Inventory, Interpersonal Dependency Inventory, Multidimensional Locus of Control Scale and Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding. Post‐treatment reoffending was identified from police contact data. Results. Of the 86 offenders who started the DVPP, 21% were alleged to have reoffended within an 11‐month post‐treatment period. Completing the programme was not significantly associated with either alleged reoffending, or time to first alleged incident. The identified treatment effect size was small (w=0.20). It was found that higher interpersonal dependency and more frequent contact with the police in the 24 months prior to attending the programme for theft and violent domestic violence predicted post‐treatment domestic violence offending. Conclusions. The results of this study indicate that the programme did not significantly reduce the rate of alleged reoffending among programme completers, or the time to first post‐treatment offence reported to the police. However, the results suggest that those offenders who were alleged to have reoffended may represent a distinct offender subgroup. These results are discussed with reference to client treatment matching and the move towards nationally accredited rehabilitation programmes in the UK.

Poczucie lokalizacji kontroli u skazanych powracających do przestępstwa a postrzeganie przez nich własnych rodzin pochodzenia

“…Przejawiają także więcej objawów niedostosowania emocjonalnego i wyższy poziom lęku od skazanych wewnątrzsterownych (Belniak, 2014). Nie stwierdzono natomiast różnic w tym zakresie pomiędzy recydywistami wielokrotnymi, a skazanymi po raz pierwszy (Bowen, Gilchrist, Beech, 2005). Ustalono także, że na obniżone poczucie sprawstwa wpływa doświadczanie sytuacji trudnych przed i w trakcie pobytu w zakładzie karnym.…”

The current practices of intervention with batterers

“…Despite the proliferation and expansion of intervention programs for batterers, different studies have produced variable and contradictory results. If, on one hand, some programs show positive results 26,27,32,33,35,37,39,43,47 , others do not reveal significant differences between the group that participated in the intervention and the group that did not receive intervention 20,28,42,52,54 . Some authors state that mixed results are due to either differences in terms of indicators and measures used in the assessment 17,22,66,65 or the success and efficacy definition 67 .…”

“…For example, even though the majority of the studies stated the use of a quasi-experimental design, in fact the design was not a quasi-experimental one 26,29,30,[33][34][35]37,39,64 . This happens because among the identified studies were found: (i) studies without a control group 29,33,35,40 ; (ii) studies that assessed the effectiveness after the ending of the treatment (post-test design) 36,45,48 ; (iii) studies that used measures in the pre-and post-test (pre-post-test designs) 29,30,31,37,38,40 ; and (iv) studies with a non-equivalent control group 20,27,31 . Moreover, the programs without a control group did not provide a reference point in order to assess their effectiveness.…”

“…Regarding this subject research shows that some intervention programs have dropout rates around 50% and that many men that attend intervention programs continue to show high levels of resistance to change 19 . At the same time, literature indicates that batterers who do not complete the programs present a higher likelihood of re-offense than those who complete the intervention 20 . In fact, effectiveness assessments revealed a difficult process due to methodological, ethical and practical issues.…”

Evaluation of European Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes: Toward a Model for Designing and Reporting Evaluations Related to Perpetrator Treatment Interventions

“…Boira et al, 2013) different cohorts of men (e.g. Bowen et al, 2005) or different offender populations (e.g. Echauri et al, 2013).…”