Recurring Questions Under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act

• Jurisdiction: California,United States
• Author: Alyce D. LaViolette and Warren R. Shiell
• Publication year: 2017
• Citation: Vol. 39 No. 3

Recurring Questions Under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act

Alyce D. LaViolette and Warren R. Shiell

Alyce LaViolette is a pioneer in the field of domestic violence. She began working with victims of abuse in 1978, as part of her work with WomenShelter, and founded Alternatives to Violence. She has spoken nationally and internationally on domestic violence issues, serving on the United States Department of State's speakers' bureau and, most recently, traveled to Vietnam to work with local shelter programs, community groups and the Communist government on issues of domestic violence programs, fundraising and legislation. Ms. LaViolette co-authored "It Could Happen to Anyone: Why Battered Women Stay," and has also co-authored a parenting curriculum for the Administrative Office of the Court. She has developed a continuum of aggression and abuse that has been used in court cases and explained in the Journal of Child Custody.

Warren R. Shiell, CFLS, is a graduate of Oxford University. He started practicing as a solicitor in commercial and corporate law in the United Kingdom in 1988. After emigrating in 1992, he started practicing in New York with Legal Aid in the areas of family, disability, housing and administrative law. Since 2006, his practice in Los Angeles has been devoted exclusively to family law. He has been on the Family Law Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has appeared in jury trials, class actions and appeals in State and Federal courts in various jurisdictions.

Section 22 on Family Law Form DV-130 provides that the court has discretion to order that a party attend a fifty-two-week batterer program approved by the probation department. When is that appropriate and how should the party attend a batterer intervention program?

Once the court decides to order a party to attend a batterer program, its discretion is prescribed by Family Code section 6342, which provides that the court may order the restrained person to participate in a "batterer's program" approved by the probation department as provided in Penal Code section 1203.097. The Penal Code imposes stringent requirements for batterer programs that include the size of groups, the content of curricula and a requirement that completion requires weekly attendance for a period of one year unless there is good cause for missing no more than three individual sessions.¹ It has been noted that attendance policies of counties vary greatly and some appear to be more lenient than state law.²

The general consensus within the mental health community is that longer periods of treatment are necessary to address the goals of changing beliefs, teaching empathy and anger management skills, and nonviolent communication.³ The length of time in a program depends on the needs of each individual and their childhood and trauma histories. Substance abusers share many characteristics with domestic violence abusers and substance abuse is often a component of domestic abuse. However, one year would usually be considered a beginning in a substance abuse recovery process.⁴ There may well be individuals who do not require a fifty-two-week program, but such a determination would be difficult without a detailed needs assessment with input from a domestic violence expert. In Ms. LaViolette's experience, batterers need more than fifty-two weeks to see transformative change.

At the end of fifty-two weeks, unless there has been an egregious violation, the court will generally release the individual from any additional treatment. If the individual is the subject of a criminal court order, there is a three-year period of probation. We have, on occasion, had an individual violate probation during the probationary period and be sent back to group for up to another year.

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In a recent case, the batterer's counsel proposed that his client attend an anger management program. What is the difference between an anger management program and a batterer intervention program approved by the probation department?

The state standards for domestic violence abuser programs do not apply to anger management programs.⁵ There are defined training, supervision, and continuing education requirements for group facilitators in batterers' programs. They must also be monitored by the Probation Department. Anger management is only one of the topics covered in batterers' intervention programs. Those programs cover a far wider range of issues and may use a wider range of techniques such as didactic education, group participatory exercises, structured feedback, self-evaluation, role-playing, skills training, homework, positive reinforcement, and cognitive behavioral techniques. For example, abusive individuals must examine "gender roles, socialization, the nature of violence, the dynamics of power and control, and the effects of abuse on children and others." There are no state requirements or standards for anger management programs or for the individuals who facilitate them.

Are batterer intervention programs group-based or individualized? What is recommended?

Anger management classes can be done individually or in group. Batterer intervention programs are always group-focused. Individual counselors tend to be more easily "conned" by clients. Groups that promote social accountability in a non-judgmental setting guided by one or two facilitators are generally believed to lead to better outcomes. Group participants develop a deeper understanding of their behaviors when other group members share their experiences and behaviors and they have a sense of not being alone in their predicament. Group is beneficial because members and the facilitator can confront entrenched beliefs that are often characterized by denial, minimization and blame.

What if the batterer claims that they cannot attend regular weekly sessions due to work or travel?

As discussed, state law requires a minimum fifty-two-week period and has a limit of three excused absences. Most programs work with perpetrators who travel for their jobs or have fluctuating shifts by extending their time in group. Court orders often provide that an offender has a maximum period of time to complete the program. Some programs allow group participants to attend make-up groups or more than one group in a week. Facilitators will write progress reports explaining why the participant has attendance problems. In Ms. LaViolette's program, Alternatives To Violence, clients provide work schedule verification to their group...