Does Batterer Treatment Reduce Violence?

Abstract Summary. This paper reviews three questions based upon the research literature on group treatment programs for batterers: (1) Does treatment reduce violence relative to the absence of treatment, (2) Do some forms of treatment work better than others, and (3) Does treatment work better for some batterers than for others? While there exist several dozen evaluations of batterer treatment programs, few have employed methodologies which are appropriate to addressing the issue of whether treatment is effective. However, among the handful of quasi-and true experiments there is fairly consistent evidence that treatment works and that the effect of treatment is substantial. Regarding the second question, we have little evidence to date that one form of treatment is superior to another or that longer programs turn out less violent graduates than shorter ones. Regarding the last question, there are bases for hypothesizing that some batterers may fare better in treatment (or fare better in certain types of treatment) than others. However, empirical verification has been highly limited to date. The paper concludes with lessons drawn from the literature on designing future research.