CSAC is excited to announce a grant from Blue Shield of
California for domestic violence recidivism prevention. The grant
funding will allow CSAC to provide research and technical
assistance necessary to create a domestic violence analytical
tool, support a six-county pilot project testing innovative
strategies for preventing recidivism in cases of domestic
violence, and convene a statewide conference in
November.
In the early 1990s, California lead the nation by establishing a
mandatory 52-week intervention program for persons placed on
probation for domestic violence battery. However, a 2012 Crime
and Justice Institute report and other studies questioned the
effectiveness of court-mandated intervention programs in light of
high rates of domestic violence recidivism. Some studies, using
direct victim interviews over time, estimated repeat violence in
40 to 80 percent of cases.
The report concluded, “…domestic violence is a complicated
community problem and we have yet to figure out what works for
effectively intervening with batterers to reduce recidivism.
Research to date has indicated that the most common
court-mandated batterer intervention programs do not reduce
recidivism or alter batterers’ attitudes about violence.”
(Webster, M. and K. Bechtel (2012). Evidence-Based Practices
for Assessing, Supervising and Treating Domestic Violence
Offenders. Crime and Justice Institute at Community
Resources for Justice: Boston, MA.)
In response, CSAC spearheaded a reform effort to improve
California’s intervention treatment program. Last legislative
session, CSAC secured the passage of Assembly Bill 372 (Stone),
creating the six-county pilot project that the Blue Shield grant
will help fund.
Napa, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and
Yolo Counties will offer an alternative and innovative
evidence-based approach to the current batterer’s intervention
treatment program. This pilot project is the first step in
assessing the efficacy of treatment programs, whether or not they
comply with current statutory requirements, to address the
criminogenic needs of batterers and result in reducing
recidivism.
