Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes

[Imnobody4]

Do they actually work?

Great article by Julie Bindel.
I wrote about how men, often dangerous, highly abusive, sexually violent men, are being diverted from the criminal justice system and into cosy perpetrator programmes with others just like them (link in reply)

https://juliebindel.substack.com/p/can-violent-sexually-abusive-men?triedRedirect=true

£53 million over the next four years to expand Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes (DVPPs).

The government’s strategy to halve violence against women and girls within a decade is a joke – but the victims are not laughing.

Reminds me of this.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48998136

The Ministry of Justice acted "unlawfully" in allowing the Sex Offender Treatment Programme to continue for five years - despite initial research which suggested it wasn't working, a government analyst has said.
Kathryn HopkinsKathryn Hopkins said she presented research in 2012 which showed the SOTP made sex offenders more harmful, but the programme wasn't halted until 2017.^

At least 5 years ago there was a R4 program about the problems with these DV perpetrator groups. Essentially those who were less violent could point to them and say "Well you're lucky I'm not as bad as Steve" and all the men were normalising DV because they spent considerable time in a group where everyone saw it as standard. In fact, many came away with the renewed feeling that it was just political correctness that meant you weren't supposed to smack your gf around a bit, and that most men supported it but just kept it quiet / didn't get found out.

I also got the impression that these issues had been known about for quite some time but it was a lot cheaper than alternatives so they kept going. As JB says, it is such a gross indication of society that there is £53m for men 's treatment that doesn't even work when women's resources are cut to the bone.

I would suggest that a large proportion of these men are high in dark triad traits. We are talking sociopath and even psychopaths.

They can't be fucking rehabilitated from a genuine and authentic place as far as I'm concerned. They'll manipulate the trainers, they'll probably love bomb any female trainers.

Look at what goes on in prison. I'm not taking responsibility away from the female prison officers who daliance like a brain dead walking hormone machine. Yet, you can imagine how manipulative and coercive these guys will be.

Terrifying.

Place marking for later

Worked in Women's Aid and Rape Criss services for many years.

I remember the probation service original programme which was oft a favourite alternative to custodial sentencing options at magistrates Court.

Elizabeth Gichrist did a review of this programme and concluded a dismal 12% reduction in reoffending. I knew her at the time.

Then up popped the advent of funding for local voluntary sector as a new movement for this service evolved. It was even worse, and robbed out the LA funding for DVA services for women and children.

None of it works, and what’s more all the research and data since Elizabeth has shows it does not work.

As a side issue the women support workers were hopelessly sucked in to advocating for the “rights” of these men, writing wholly inaccurate reports to Family Court proceedings, of which i was often called in as an expert witness myself.

Victims who were “supported” by the perps programmes frequently found there way to our services because the gas’s lighting of victims persisted within these services.

Elizabeth, last i spoke to, was involved in some project exploring the psychological profiles of perpetrators, if i recall there were six typologies.

you are bang on @JoyDivision79.

So i left the sector in 2014.

and 11 fucking years later we are still no further forward…

FFS

Hats off to Julie.

Yep, they sent work. My XH went on one. No change at all

Are there young dads who have no interpersonal skills and dismally few strategies to deal with challenges? The ones that get referred into counselling with and without their partner to be taught coping skills that don’t involve bullying their partner.

Is there a place for that? They aren’t particularly manipulative, just have no reference for healthy relationships and precious little experience of them.

@myplace No these are programmes target serial, violent and controlling males, who with a 89% fail rate duck out of jail time.

the cohort you mention are not generally speaking part of this group.

Thank you. That’s reassuring. Apart from that cohort, I’m in total agreement about the shocking waste of investing in these men, instead of supporting their victims.

I worry that things will be worse for younger generations. Boys are drenched in online porn at a young age, leading to dangerous sexual practices like choking, and girls who are also exposed to this are not learning about consent, or even gentleness and their own pleasure. Moreover the misogyny is really high, and I fear many girls and young women will be abused and not know it’s not normal.

We have a need for more programs to show girls and young women what abuse looks like and how to counter it, how to spot the signs before it’s too late, so they have a chance to leave. And more resources for refuges and support services.

We’re going to have to set up our own again, and hope the men don’t take it over with trans ideology. Or underfund it if the local authorities agree to provide them.

Courts hate criminalising young men in particular. They present so nicely in the dock. They like to think they can be "saved". So they support these initiatives - you don't get similar for eg drunk driving.