Domestic Violence Offenders and Rehabilitation Programs: Should Heterosexual Men and Women Follow the Same Protocol?

• In Event: Essential Contexts: Privilege and Oppression in Crime and Justice

Abstract

Domestic violence is one of the most complicated crimes in the history of human kind. Our criminal justice system has not found an effective way to punish and rehabilitate offenders. In addition, the implementation of gender neutral policies has created an unfair system where women are often punished for their victimization. This study focuses on a sample of men and women court mandated to attend a domestic violence rehabilitation program. A survey was employed to collect data from all the offenders attending the program in five different Midwest counties. The analysis reveals that female domestic violence offenders are less likely than their male counterparts to be high risk offenders and they differ from them in their criminal thinking patterns. In addition, throughout the time they are mandated to attend a rehabilitation program, women offenders are less likely than men offenders to drop out of the program and more likely to improve those behaviors targeted by the program itself. There is a need for better exploring the differences between domestic violence male and female offenders, understanding their differences in risk for re-offending, and discussing alternatives in punishment and rehabilitation practices to eliminate injustice.

Authors

• Monica Solinas-Saunders, Indiana University Northwest

• Melissa J. Stacer, University of Southern Indiana