Classes Attempt Rehabilitation of Batterers

Although rehabilitative measures for violent offenders are increasingly taking a back seat to stiff sentencing, classes for abusive husbands and boyfriends are expanding.

There are more than 8,500 batterers attending classes at more than 140 sites in Los Angeles County, in which they learn to rethink their masculinity and “recognize their partners as human beings,” said Deputy Probation Officer Jim Wright, who oversees the county’s batterer classes.

“A lot of these guys think you’re not a man unless your woman obeys you,” Wright said.

“A lot of them engage in victim blaming. Denial is a big part of this. They blame the system, they blame everyone but themselves. Typically, a big piece of work is getting them to take responsibility for their choices.”

Although little research has been done on the effectiveness of such classes, judges and probation officials cite anecdotal evidence of their value.

“I am convinced that these classes have had a tremendous impact,” said Veronica S. McBeth, the presiding judge for Los Angeles Municipal Courts.

A 1994 state law mandated that all batterer classes be approved by the local probation department and be subject to audits and surprise visits by government officials.

That same law shifted California courts’ emphasis from “anger management”--classes with a more general focus on anger in any circumstance--to prevention of domestic violence against women.

On rare occasions, judges still order convicts to attend anger-management programs, but they are not accredited by the county.

“The law standardized the industry,” said Municipal Judge Anita Dymant, chairwoman of the Domestic Violence Committee of the Municipal Court Judges Assn. “There is no longer any informal counseling, and by and large, we hardly use anger-management classes anymore.”

“A red flag goes up every time I hear ‘anger management.’ . . . It allows them to externalize their anger, like it was their anger that beat up their girlfriend and not them,” Wright said. “This isn’t about not being able to manage your anger; this is about a choice of power and control and proving to yourself that you are a man.”

Batterer classes are usually ordered in conjunction with jail time and probation for first-time offenders. State law requires batterers to attend classes teaching alternatives to violence at least two hours a week for a year.

“Typically, participants will present their acts and tactics of abuse and the facilitator and the group will discuss those tactics of abuse and deal with the values underneath,” Wright said. “We spend a lot of time dealing with the underlying attitudes and beliefs that allow them to be violent.”

There are a few women in the classes, too.

“There’s a non-significant trend of more women batterers lately,” Wright said. “More of them are showing up at batterers’ classes, but I’d say [their number] is still only about 5%.”

Wright says the classes, 40% of which are offered in Spanish, are attended by men from all social classes and ethnic groups.

“By and large, I think [batterer classes] are helpful, but there haven’t been any definitive studies by psychologists or social workers looking at data to determine whether they are effective,” Dymant said. “I’d like to see studies on that.”

Wright said the probation department is seeking someone to conduct such a study.