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Insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of court-mandated interventions for men convicted of domestic violence
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Intimate partner violence affects roughly 1 in 4 women in an intimate relationship, although estimates vary by country. Intimate partner violence also accounts for roughly 11% of all homicides in the USA. Men are also victims of intimate partner violence, but male victims are not the focus of this review.
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One approach to addressing this problem common in the USA is a court-mandated group-based batterer intervention program for male batterers.
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What is this review about?
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The objective of this review was to determine if court-mandated group-based batterer intervention programs are effective at reducing intimate partner violence among male batterers.
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What is the aim of this review?
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This update of a Campbell systematic review examines the effects of court-mandated batterer intervention programs for adult males who have perpetrated intimate-partner violence.
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What studies are included?
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The review summarizes the evidence from 11 high-quality studies, including four randomized controlled trials and eight quasi-experimental comparison group studies.
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Eight studies were conducted in the USA, two in Canada and one in Australia.
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What are the main findings of this review?
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The studies we included do not support the effectiveness of court-mandated batterer intervention programs. There are two important caveats.
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First, there is not enough evidence to draw a strong conclusion that these programs do not work. The evidence is insufficient to conclude that they do work.
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Second, there is a new generation of these programs that have incorporated new elements, such as motivational interviewing. Meta-analyses have established that motivational interviewing improves in-program outcomes, such as attendance and other indicators of compliance, but there is insufficient evidence to establish whether these newer generation programs reduce post-program intimate partner violence.
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What do the findings of the review mean?
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The classic batterer intervention program that relied solely on a feminist framework, a cognitive-behavioral model, or a mix of the two, is unlikely to provide a meaningful solution to the problem of intimate partner violence. New programs and/or entirely new approaches to this important social problem should be explored.
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How up-to-date is this review?
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This authors of this review update searched for studies up to February 2018.