Public Awareness

OPDV Bulletin:
Collusion and the Impact on Accountability:
A Message for Criminal Justice Professionals


The following piece is written for professionals working in the criminal justice system. Because the vast majority of offenders who enter the system are male and their victims are female, this article refers to offenders as "him" and to victims as "her."


Domestic violence offenders do not fall through cracks in the justice system. They are allowed to escape justice with the aid and assistance of our personal disbelief and skepticism about what victims tell us and our inattention to accountability.


Before criminal justice professionals can safely and effectively respond to domestic violence, we must first accept the following basic principles:


  • There is absolutely no excuse for domestic violence
  • Nothing can force an individual to be violent or controlling toward an intimate partner
  • Domestic violence is not caused by alcohol or substance abuse
  • Domestic violence is not an anger control problem
  • Domestic violence is not a matter of poor communication skills
  • Domestic violence is a matter of choice
  • Individuals who are abusive and controlling must be held accountable for their choices.

Those specific principles above, which are most difficult for us to accept or believe, are the very points that abusers will uncover and use successfully to escape being held accountable. The coordinated accountability efforts of the entire justice system will collapse at the weakest point; our doubts open the door to collusion.


Holding the erroneous belief that victims or outside influences share at least some responsibility for an offender's violent and controlling acts gives tacit approval to the offender for the behavior. The offender will know he has succeeded in co-opting us when interviews turn into discussions about anything other than the offender's responsibility for his abusive and controlling behavior, or when he is no longer challenged about his sexist attitudes and belief system, or when his use of derogatory language to describe his partner or other women is met with silence, or when we join him in condemning the victim for her deficits or perceived contribution to the abuse. Collusion can be as subtle as an understanding smile or nod of the head. It can be as blunt as a memorandum to court that details anything about a victim's behavior. The resulting lack of accountability is an affront to the principles of justice. The offender has successfully uncovered a weakness in the system-wide accountability efforts. The offender will manipulate and exploit that weakness to his best advantage. The victim will, once again, be left on her own and in more danger. The offender now has the additional power of the justice system working on his behalf to blame and control his partner.


Accountability is much more than just a catch phrase. Accountability means that we, as agents of the justice system, will never accept an abuser's denial, minimization or justification for abusive behavior. We must never allow an abuser to blame his violent and controlling behavior on anything or anyone, especially the victim, something he will frequently try to do. It also means that we are obligated, as criminal justice professionals, to focus our attention and activities on relieving domestic violence victims of the unfair burden of holding their abusers accountable. If we do not fully embrace these basic tenets and consistently demonstrate them in our practice, we are in jeopardy of falling prey to the traps of collusion that are continually being set by offenders.


To avoid being drawn into collusion with abusers, we must closely examine our own disbelief and skepticism regarding the information provided to us by women who are abused and by their advocates.


As with any other form of oppression, only those who have experienced domestic violence have the right to inform us on how they are impacted by it. We must not allow our own difficulties with the information or this work to interfere with or erode an appropriate response to domestic violence by the justice system.