Citation

Stalans LJ, Seng M. Int. J. Offender Ther. Comp. Criminol. 2007; 51(2): 151-169.

Affiliation

Loyola University Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0306624X06290204

PMID

17412821

Abstract

This study identifies the subgroups of domestic batterers who are at a low or high risk of failing to complete domestic batterer cognitive behavioral treatment. The sample is composed of 355 domestic batterers ordered to complete treatment, with 31.8% not completing treatment. Three subgroups of batterers were identified as having at least a 60% chance of treatment failure: (a) unemployed generalized aggressors, (b) high school dropouts ordered into substance abuse treatment, and (c) unemployed offenders ordered into substance abuse treatment. Furthermore, a high school education, even when offenders are unemployed or living in poverty, buffers the negative effects of a substance abuse problem among court-mandated batterers required to participate in both domestic violence treatment and substance abuse treatment. Two thirds of substance-abusing high school graduates completed both domestic violence and substance abuse treatment, compared to only one third of the substance-abusing high school dropouts. Implications are discussed.

Language: en