Fact sheets index

Batterers Stop if They Get Counseling, Don't They?

"Men who batter do so because it is generally a low-risk, highly effective tactic that, at least in the short run, gets them what they want." For example, one study found that only 1% of convicted batterers received jail time beyond the time served at arrest - often just a few hours.
"The crucial problem presented by male batterers, ... is not that they are depressed, easily angered, or that they lack self-esteem. The problem is that they criminally abuse other people. Their behavior would be no less reprehensible if they were well adjusted, contented batterers!"
"Once dismissed as not being `real criminals' male batterers ... share all the attributes of the highest risk, chronic offenders. As a group, they are among the most tenacious and potentially lethal offenders released to the community. Worse, unlike perpetrators of stranger assaults, with few exceptions these abusers have ready access to their victims. ... If there are mutual children involved, the offender may have court authorized visitation which often subverts the effect of any restraining order provisions designed to safeguard the mother. ... "[T]he fact is, men who find their way into the court and eventually end up under correctional supervision for spousal/partner assault share the same risk characteristics of the most dangerous offenders currently on probation/parole across the country. ... Almost to a man, batterers either deny their spousal/partner abuse or feel entitled to exercise control over their spouse/partner. ... Coupled with the general violence of modern culture, not to mention approving peers, many men feel very supported in engaging in spousal/partner abuse." ;
In one study, a Los Angeles abusers' counselor confirmed that all 150 abusers he had treated acknowledged they had abused other partners. Another study reported that 93% of men in treatment who have had prior relationships were known to have abused their former partners.
The Effectiveness of Batterer Treatment

If the statistics cited by Eisikovits and Edleson (1989), Edleson and Tolman (1993), and DeMaris (1989), were combined to predict the future of 100 men who assaulted female partners and were mandated to enter a batterers' treatment program, the results would be:

  • Over a quarter, 28, of these men would never complete any program at all.
  • Five of the 72 remaining men would require a second hearing of some kind to be forced to complete the program. Of the 72 men forced to complete the program,
  • As many as 29 (40%) would continue to engage in violence.
  • Of the remaining 43 men, 65% (28) would continue to use threats or intimidation - i.e., psychological and emotional abuse - against their partners.
  • Thus, the end result would be that as few as 15 of the original 100 men would have actually ceased engaging in physical and emotional abuse.
Depending on whether success is defined as the complete cessation of violence versus a reduction in frequency or severity of violence, rates of recidivism have ranged from a low of 2% to as high as 39%.