Batterer Intervention Systems in California: An Evaluation

• NCJ Number: 230702
• Author(s): Dag MacLeod; Ron Pi; David Smith; Leah Rose-Goodwin
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 151 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2005-WG-BX-0004
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This study examined the different ways that courts, departments of probation, and batterer intervention programs (BIPs) intervene in domestic violence cases in California.

Abstract

This study examined a sample of over a thousand men that were enrolled in batterer intervention programs (BIPs) across five jurisdictions in California. Some findings from the study include: the men in the BIPs were not representative of the larger problem of domestic violence; more than one third of the men in the sample still lived with their victim; BIPs incorporated multiple approaches to working with domestic violence offenders; offenders' rates of program completion varied across different BIPs; and the strongest predictors of re-offending following intake in a BIP were the individual characteristics of the offenders. Since 1994, California law has required that defendants who are convicted and granted probation in domestic violence cases complete a certified BIP. In addition, many State superior courts have adopted specialized procedures for handling domestic violence cases, with each jurisdiction managing the caseloads in different ways. This study examined the different ways that domestic violence cases are handled by the courts, departments of probation, and BIPs in five separate jurisdictions in California: Los Angeles, Riverside, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, and Solano. The report is divided into six chapters that cover: an evaluation of California's Batterer Intervention Systems; an evaluation of five Batterer Intervention Systems in California; a look at BIP content; an examination of offender profiles; an analysis of systems impacts; and a review of policy issues and research implications. Appendixes