Domestic Violence Perpetrators ─ Evidence-informed Responses

Domestic violence is a serious, widespread public, social and health problem that affects the lives of many women, children and men. There is also evidence to suggest it has one of the highest rates of recidivism. This comprehensive book provides an overview of what we know – and don’t know – about the perpetrators of domestic violence and what works, and what doesn’t, in promoting behaviour change.

Collecting together the most up-to-date evidence from the international literature and bringing psychological, sociological, gendered and socio-political theoretical perspectives to bear on the issue, the authors explore:

• what domestic violence, why it happens and how to measure it

• who the perpetrators of domestic violence are, including discussion of non-stereotypical patterns such as male victims, female perpetrators, couples where the abuse is mutual, and couples with abusive relationships who want the abuse to end but the relationship to be sustained

• strategies for engaging perpetrators in interventions and for promoting behaviour change

• evidence-informed interventions, programmes and policies for working with perpetrators

• where robust evidence is lacking and more research needs to be undertaken.

Domestic violence is a significant problem for those individuals and families whose life is affected by this issue, the social, health and criminal justice agencies that respond to it, and wider society which must bear the costs and its devastating effects. This volume is an important reference for all those researching and working with the victims, survivors and perpetrators of domestic violence, including academics and students from fields such as social work, sociology, criminology, psychology and social policy.

John Devaney is Director of Social Work Education at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. He was a member of the governmental policy group which developed Northern Ireland’s first domestic violence strategy, and has represented the Irish government at the European Commission in relation to work with domestic violence perpetrators. He is currently chair of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Anne Lazenbatt is NSPCC Reader in Childhood Studies within the Institute of Child Care Research, Queen’s University of Belfast, UK. She is a health psychologist and Fellow of the British Psychological Society, with experience in clinical practice and working with vulnerable families.

Maurice Mahon is a research fellow at Queens University Belfast on secondment from the Western Health and Social Care Trust where he is employed as a qualified social worker. He is currently researching domestically violent men’s readiness to engage in domestic violence prevention programmes in Northern Ireland and also runs a private business specialising in the provision of training and specialist interventions with domestically violent men.