Jane Doe Inc. - Voices For Change

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BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL
No quick cure for battering
April 12, 2008

SITTING IN a restaurant, Ashley Fernandes told a stranger that his girlfriend was dead in his apartment, police say. When Peabody officers checked, they found the body of his estranged girlfriend, Jessica Herrera.
Fernandes has been charged with murder, but that wasn't his first brush with the law; earlier this year, his girlfriend had taken out a restraining order against him. What more can be done to keep victims safe before domestic violence escalates into murder? Another vital question: What will keep batterers from doing it again?

For Massachusetts that should mean taking more steps to protect victims and hold batterers accountable. The need is huge. Last year, the number of domestic violence homicides spiked at 42, up from 19 in 2003, according to the nonprofit Jane Doe Inc.

Unfortunately, some batterers are being given a relatively quick way out of legal trouble. Courts are sending some to anger management classes that run, on average, for 10 weeks and focus on techniques for short-circuiting anger. A more effective approach is to send offenders to 40-week batterer intervention programs. These programs address the attitudes that fuel domestic violence.

But judges in the state referred half as many batterers to the programs last year as in 2003, the Globe reported recently. Battering programs are generally required for those who violate restraining orders. In cases of assault, judges can and do refer offenders to these programs, but they aren't required to.

Batterer programs work because they demand accountability for acts of violence. Trained staffers send progress reports to probation officers, and also talk to and advise the partners of batterers.

The programs help batterers manage not just their anger but also their jealousy and the conviction that they themselves are the victims. Batterers can work on being a healthier part of their children's lives. And when relationships end, these programs can help batterers see beyond rage or a desire to control their ex-partners. Staffers help them see "life beyond the relationship," says David Adams, co-director of Emerge, a batterer's program in Cambridge.

But these programs are shrinking. As attendance drops, so do the fees that participants pay, causing further erosion.

To figure out why, state public health and court officials are surveying judges about their referral patterns. This is also a chance to educate judges about batterer programs and refute the idea that anger-management is enough. Massachusetts should use the most effective ways to stop domestic violence.