Domestic Violence Prevention Programs - Annotated Bibliography Example

Annotated bibliography Programs for Men who perpetrate Domestic Violence: An Examination of the Issues Underlying the Effectiveness of Intervention Programs, Day, Andrew; Chung, Donna; O'leary, Patrick; Carson, Ed: Journal of Family Violence 24. 3 (Apr 2009): 203-212. This article tries to find out the reason as to why the programs geared towards the rehabilitation of male violent offenders on domestic grounds are not so effective in doing this thus reducing recidivism for other offenders. The author uses a myriad of surveys on some of these programs run at various levels mainly in the northern US examining their effectiveness in addressing the problem of male violence among different communities. The author notes that various programs have been put in place by various welfare agencies concerned with the protection of family affairs and have been met with a lot of resistance in most case hence bearing no recognized fruits at the end of the day. According to the author, persons who have undergone the counseling programs are less likely to be engaged in cases of assault should the programs be implemented in a good way considering all consequences. It concludes by noting that verbal assaults are equally serious means of assaults just as assaults which involve fighting. He argues that various counseling sessions offered at various levels and in various capacities have not had significant outcomes considering the prediction of these results being skewed towards a possibility of having the assault cases being repeated in the people who have undergone the counseling sessions. Domestic violence; Rehabilitation of criminals; Effectiveness; Intervention; Recidivism; Crime prevention: Journal of Family Violence. The author of this article claims to predict the possibility of cases for the recurrence of assault against cases of no results in male offenders. The method of prediction that was used here aimed at improving the prediction for these cases using the multinomial logistic approach whereby multiple outcomes were compared to improve the prediction mechanisms. The outcome indicated that there was no relationship in the prediction of the first time assaulters and the repetition of reassaults in multiple offenders. Fairly consistent risk markers were identified to be the major contributing factors in cases of assaults, such as prior assault and these included, excessive alcohol or drug abuse, previous criminality, severe personality disorders and/or psychological problems, neglect or abuse as a child, and program dropout. Some of the programs such as those that use the dynamic models are so complex and require a great deal of sophisticated approaches and analyses to carry out. These huge amounts of data and the technicalities involved are however the major hindrance to the assessments carried out by these organizations. The author concludes that an extensive array of potential risk markers with suitable calibrations is needed, along with large sample sizes that allow for sufficient statistical power in multivariate and multiple outcome analyses. The follow-ups also must be longitudinal to collect conditional and situational variables over time. A data set with all of these components is very costly and time consuming to establish (Hanson &Wallace-Capretta, 2000). The high cost and complexity involved in carrying out some of these programs therefore hinder their implementation and effectiveness in carrying out these. Battering of Women: The Failure of Intervention and the Case for Prevention. By Larry L. Tift. Author: Conway-Long, Don. The main goal that the author aims at achieving in this article is to examine the possible reasons for battering across the domain; of more concern was the structural and interpersonal dynamics that may perpetrate such cases and further gives the stages of battering pegging the argument on the mode of relationship between man and woman which revolves around the psychological matters. Large amounts of data were generated by carrying out an analysis of the various outcomes in the mode of operations of various programs involved and comparing them across the board by examining their weakness. Tift says that the programs involved in offering the solution for bettering processes often concentrate on the personal and interpersonal reasons which only involve the man and the woman therefore interfering with his whole issues. By trying to find out the personal matters that privately belong to a person, the case for interference and the concealing of information needed is likely to arise. The author argues notes that the causes of domestic violence are varied ranging from social issues, the control of family finances and resources among other family related issues. Since different persons have different ways of thinking and reasoning over similar matters and the same is the cause of violence even in a family set up sometimes leading to cases like wife battering and aggression towards the opposite gender. The author notes in this article that accurate measurements and prediction of human behaviors are in most cases a matter of concern since man behaves more or less in a similar way. In fact there are models put in place to predict the behavioral change in various persons but rarely do they give accurate results since human behavior varies rapidly depending on the surrounding environment. It therefore requires that one carries out long term surveillance on such factors which are often long lasting (consumes a lot of time) as well as costly that the research funds could not meet. Besides interpersonal dynamics in the situations where the abuse occurs are also very difficult to determine as these as well changes varyingly. Summary of literature Conway-Long gives an estimate of about 8.7 million women who are continuously being abused by their husbands or their male counterparts for various reasons he does not mention in his bulletin (Conway-Long, 1995). However, a large percentage of these women are said to continue living in these homes and with these men who constantly abuse them. The reason most of these women continue living in these homes are mostly finance related. It was noted in the research that most women not only in North America where the research took place but across the globe have no formal employment to sustain them when living alone or with their children. Repeated violence cases therefore amounts as the previous assaults are ignored by the women in an attempt to create peace in order to continue surviving under the umbrella of the husband who provides for most of her needs despite the assaults. Heckert and Gondolf assert, women who have no or less income sources become socially vulnerable to abuse by their partners in marriage as they tend to endure the sufferings and the difficulties they are subjected under in order to support themselves from their husbands’ income (Heckert and Gondolf, 2005). Most programs geared towards such matters of family violence with an aim of helping to avert the situation do not look into such matters dealing with alleviating the women’s financial status or just have nothing to do on them. As Conway-Long notes, most of these programs are aimed at resolving the conflicts after they have occurred other than solving the causes of these problems (Conway-Long, 1995). The agencies set aside by the various organizations around the world to look into family matters and resolve family conflicts are also incapacitated in terms of financial challenges thus cannot offer financial solutions to these hence their repetition. The women continue being jobless and entirely depend on their men for utter assistance hence have to be submissive and endure the escalating violence that are constantly evident in many societies and homes around the world today. This is of course the missing point of most of these programs, hence their inability to offer outstanding and long lasting solutions to domestic violence. One of the factors that have immensely escalated the occurrence of domestic violence in various regions across the globe according to these findings is the masculinity as feminists’ settings in most societies around the globe (Heckert and Gondolf, 2005). Most societies have patriarchal systems where the male or the masculine gender dominates every aspect of the home. The female gender has very little to say or contribute in family matters and is subjected to live under the jurisdictions set by the husband. In such societies women suffer from both physical as well as verbal assaults. The men in these settings have the overall say on every aspect in decision making and so their decisions always carry the day and so are the key players in most family affairs. However, in many of these patriarchal societies, the woman’s voice is suppressed to an extent that she is not allowed to comment on the family affairs especially when the man of the house or the husband is still alive. The different perspectives in the reasoning in this case therefore bring about the differences between the husband and the wives always resulting in assault cases (Day, Chung, O’leary and Carson, 2009).. It is however very difficult to change the social setting in any culture in the world. Cultures change voluntarily over time and with the willingness of the society involved. The programs that deal with the issues related to domestic violence therefore have very little to do with influencing the cultural settings of any society other than try to persuade them to change their norms and practices in order to help avert the alarming situations. The patriarchal society therefore continues to dominate over the women suppressing their voices even further and subjecting the women under such circumstances related to such violence. In this case then, the programs aimed at curbing the issues of domestic violence are incapacitated and cannot offer outstanding solutions for issues that are beyond their reach such as changing the culture of a society. Conway-Long notes that gender imbalances within these societies can only be dealt with using an educative approach where the males can be persuaded to change their motives concerning how they view their women which is what most of these programs do (Conway-Long, 1995. Gender imbalances leading to the assault of women and domestic violence in the world are mainly common among the Islamic communities where the voice of the woman is utterly suppressed and domestic violence so rampant with women assaults cases ever rising. According to Hecket and Gondolf, the key drawback for the deterrent of the effectiveness of the programs aimed at solving domestic problems from effectively addressing the issues dealing with domestic violence is lack of awareness on the part of the women themselves. Statistical results issued by Heckert and Gondolf have shown that the percentage of the female gender acquiring education at higher levels is low as compared to that of the male gender across the entire globe (Heckert and Gondolf, 2005). Lastly, the other issue that has hindered the operations of these programs in carrying out their mandates to avert the situation by reducing the cases of domestic violence is the unwillingness of both parties concerned especially the male counterparts who in most cases are unwilling to attend the counseling sessions arranged to offer solutions to their problems (Conway-Long, 1995). The resistance and ignorance of these programs by these parties therefore lead to the increase in the number of cases related to domestic violence without the intervention mechanisms put in place. Read More