What is Domestic Violence?

Batterers Accountability Programs

Judges, victims, and the general public often see domestic violence offender accountability programs as a necessary intervention tool, but disagreement in the field over the best way to intervene with batterers can lead to safety risks for victims and confusion in accountability systems.

• Most domestic violence offender accountability programs (often called “batterer programs”) in NYS and nationwide, operate on a therapeutic or psycho-educational group counseling model. These programs address psychological issues that are seen as underlying abusive behavior – victimization, anger, substance abuse, mental health problems, relationship issues, etc. – with the goal of individual change. Attendance at these programs may be either voluntary or court-mandated.
  
  
• For several years, OPDV has funded a different sort of batterer program – a probation-like model of court-mandated programs that assist the court in monitoring offenders while providing them with education about domestic violence and an opportunity to choose to change their behavior. Underlying the investment in accountability-based batterer programs is the recognition that neither model of batterer programs has been shown to reduce recidivism (i.e., re-arrest for a subsequent DV offense – the most common outcome measure) in the long term. Therefore, improved community response, not individual behavior change, is the goal of the program.