Exploring State Policies and Program Practices for Offenders of Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent and urgent public health and social crisis in the United States. Batterer Intervention Programs (BIPs) are the standard treatment for adjudicated and court-mandated IPV offenders but have demonstrated questionable effectiveness. States across the nation have policies or “practice standards” that guide BIP practices. Many researchers assert that one reason BIPs are not effective is because these practice standards are not based on the scientific evidence on IPV perpetration and intervention. Given these concerns, there is a critical need to better understand what is and is not working within the policies and practices used to reduce IPV (i.e., batterer intervention). To fill this knowledge gap, my three-paper dissertation involved a policy document review of practice standards, qualitative interviews and a survey to better understand the needs, challenges and recommendations for improving the policies and practices used to reduce violence recidivism among IPV offenders. The first paper is a policy document review, which synthesized and analyzed the state practice standards for BIPs across the 45 states and the District of Columbia (n=46) that have practice standards in place. Findings reveal several ways in which practice standards for BIPs are not evidence-informed and must be updated, given their influence over BIPs nationwide. The second paper is a qualitative study of key stakeholders in batterer intervention in North Carolina (n=17). Findings highlight needs and challenges related to state oversight of BIPs, a lack of program sustainability and court system processes. Many of the challenges described are a result of a lack of funding at the state and program level and weakness in the coordinated community response. Finally, the third paper is a mixed-methods study that explores program practices through a statewide survey of BIPs (n=26) and results from the qualitative study regarding the challenges and needs of BIP practices. Findings draw attention to the need to implement more evidence-based practices into BIPs. Further, multiple barriers need to be addressed in order to successfully implement evidence-based practices.Doctor of Philosoph