Assessment and evaluation of men who batter women - Assessment and Evaluation of Men Who Batter Women - Abstract - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Rehabilitation, Oct-Dec, 2001 by Linda M. Peterman, Charlotte G. Dixon

Domestic violence is a major social and health problem in America. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that a woman is beaten by her intimate partner every fifteen seconds. The American Medical Association [AMA] reports that about 50% of all women will experience some type of domestic violence in their lifetime, and the U.S. Surgeon General declared domestic violence the nation's number one health problem (AMA, 1992).

Violence is behavior that includes any action or words that hurt another person. It involves the misuse of power with the intent of controlling or oppressing another person, and may be defined differently by each state. The domestic violence legal definition according to Florida Statutes (1995) is "any assault, battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, or any criminal offense resulting in physical injury or death of one family or household member by another who is or was residing in the same single dwelling unit". Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior whose purpose is to control (Walker, 2000). This control over another person is gained through fear and intimidation.

This paper discusses the assessment of males who commit domestic violence crimes, referred to as batterers. Dutton (1995), Gondolf (1996), Tolman and Bennett (1990), and Stith and Straus (1995) have conducted extensive research on the characteristics of batterers. Information gathered can be used to plan effective treatments, interventions, and strategies. Moreover, this paper will examine the importance of utilizing ethnically and culturally sensitive approaches during the initial intake and subsequent assessment sessions with batterers.

Definition of Battering

A batterer is someone who uses not only physical abuse, but emotional abuse, sexual abuse, economic abuse, and other behaviors that assert control and power (Walker, 2000). Physical abuse occurs when one threatens, hits, kicks, pushes, shoves, slaps, punches, or uses a weapon against another. Walker (2000) cites other examples of physical abuse which include refusing to help someone who is injured, sick or pregnant, abandoning someone in a dangerous place, and locking someone out of one's house. Emotional abuse occurs when one continually ridicules, insults, puts down, humiliates, or criticizes another person. Other examples of emotional abuse, according to Walker (2000), include withholding approval or affection, threatening to leave or harm someone or their children, manipulating with lies, and continually finding fault with another. Verbal abuse is also part of emotional abuse (Walker, 2000). Verbal abuse occurs when the abuser says blatantly hurtful things, criticizes one, calls one names, or constantly puts one down.

A large majority of batterers are male (McConnell, 2000; Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). In fact, it has been reported in the literature that the male is the abuser in 95% of domestic violence cases (Dutton, 1995; Island & Letellier, 1991; Walker, 2000). The batterer comes from every social, economic, ethnic, professional, educational and religious group (Selinger, 1996). Most batterers do not have criminal records and are almost never violent with anyone except their partner (Dutton, 1995, Gondolf, 1992). To those outside the family, a batterer usually appears to be a good provider, a loving father, and a law-abiding citizen. Nevertheless, he usually has a dualistic personality referred to as a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality and is manipulative, unpredictable, possessive, jealous, unrealistic, and controlling (Dutton, 1995). Batterers frequently have low self-esteem and believe others are to blame for their problems. The batterer fears abandonment such as divorce, separation, imagined infidelity, or pregnancy and tends to resort to violence rather than looking for other solutions to the problem (Dutton, 1995).

According to Gondolf (1992), there are three types of batterers. The first type, the typical batterer, usually has no diagnosable mental illness or personality disorder, is no more likely than anyone else to have substance abuse issues, is not violent to people outside the family, and has no criminal record. The sociopathic batterer views violence as an acceptable way of dealing with problems, may have a diagnosable personality disorder, and is likely to have a problem with substance abuse (Gondolf, 1992). However, he is unlikely to have a criminal record because he does not "get caught" very often. His violence is likely to be more severe than the "typical batterer" and he is more likely to use weapons or injure his victims. He is not apologetic, often threatens to kill the victim or do more violence, and has a tendency to make sexual demands after violence. He may justify his violence with religious beliefs and uses power and control in many areas of his life (Gondolf, 1992). The anti-social batterer usually has diagnosable mental illnesses or personality disorders, substance abuse problems, and criminal records (Gondolf, 1992). Their violence is far more severe and frequent. As a result, they are more likely to get caught and to have a criminal record.