EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Challenging Male Violence: a report of a study into the feasibility of establishing a programme for non-convicted perpetrators of domestic violence in Coventry

BACKGROUND

Domestic violence is one of the most frequently reported serious crimes. The vast majority of perpetrators are men and they inflict incalculable harm on the women and children who are their victims. Not only is the reported prevalence of domestic violence high, but we know that this is likely to represent only a small proportion of actual abuse. Many women are too frightened to approach agencies and they face significant social and economic barriers in doing so.

The work of survivors and agencies representing them has made domestic violence visible: it is now on the public and political agendas and is a significant organisational priority for statutory and voluntary agencies at national and local levels. Despite this, male violence against women and children remains difficult to challenge.

In Coventry, a great deal of work has been undertaken to ensure that refuge and support are available to women and children living with or trying to escape from domestic violence. Following Coventry City Council’s Elected Member Review on Domestic Violence in 1999, a multi-agency group was set up to look at work with perpetrators and find a way forward. Represented on this group are:

Coventry’s Domestic Violence Partnership

Panahghar

Coventry City Council

Coventry Healthcare NHS Trust

Coventry Relate

Action Against Crime Partnership

Area Child Protection Committee / Social Services Department

Probation West Midlands

West Midlands Police

Other voluntary and statutory agencies

KEY QUESTIONS FOR THE FEASIBILITY STUDY

As a first step, the Domestic Violence Perpetrators’ Programme Steering Group commissioned from the Centre for the Study of Safety and Well-being, University of Warwick, a feasibility study that has examined the following:

What is the level and extent of need across the city and in the specific areas of Foleshill and Wood End?

Who are potential referrers to a programme?

What are the diverse needs of potential participants in a programme?

What are the implications for services for women and children of setting up such a programme?

How can women and children’s safety best be assured?

What work is currently being undertaken with perpetrators?

What model would work best in Coventry?

What are people’s hopes, fears and expectations about work with perpetrators?

The study has been funded by the Home Office’s Partnership Support Fund through the West Midlands Government Office.

THE STUDY METHODOLOGY

To meet these aims, the study has combined a number of methods, to build up a local picture and draw on national and international research and best practice guidance. This has included:

A review of existing research on perpetrator programmes

Documentary and statistical analysis

Consultations with potential referrers from voluntary and statutory sectors, existing local services for women, community and faith-based groups

Consultation with a sample perpetrator programmes in the UK

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY:

From potential referrers in statutory sector agencies and voluntary agencies that work closely with them:

There was a high level of awareness of domestic violence and its impact on women and children amongst participating agencies

There was consensus for a broad, gendered definition of domestic violence

Many were cautious about assuming that higher levels of awareness lead to better or different professional practices

Active screening for domestic violence was not established in the policies and practices of many agencies

The inter-agency context was extremely complex at all levels

Little work was currently being undertaken with non- convicted men

Although discredited as a response to domestic violence, it was possible that some men from the city were being referred for angermanagement

There was overwhelming support for a programme for non-convicted perpetrators

There were multiple points of access for potential referral and the provision of information

There were sufficient potential referrals to justify considering a programme

This was unlikely to be viable within either of the two specified areas, but a city wide group would help meet the objectives of crime reduction/area safety in those areas

There was much support and enthusiasm for this venture, but it might be difficult to secure local funding

An extremely important consideration is the provision of parallel services for women and children and to ensure that current resources are not depleted.

From potential referrers in the voluntary sector, women’s services and community and faith-based groups:

There was overwhelming support and excitement about the possibility of having a voluntary programme for male perpetrators in Coventry.

It had to be thought through carefully, done properly, and with a sound foundation.

The programme had to have a holistic approach and to include developmental/awareness work, groupwork, one-to-one work, and a helpline. This would require a mixture of staffing and the recognition of difference within the service offered. The implications for resources raised by such a programme were acknowledged. People involved would also need to be highly skilled and very committed.

Women’s organisations experienced in domestic violence work should be involved in all aspects

Thought should to be given to the venue/building since the stigma attached to it might discourage many men. There were particular issues for some minority ethnic communities.

All key agencies should be involved to develop effective inter-agency systems but, at the same time, be cautious about who was involved.

Support and safety for women and children needed to be given priority and to be in place

Any initiative had to be properly funded and not create competition for existing organisations.

The voluntary nature of the programme could pose issues about maintenance of attendance.

Issues of ethnicity and equality should by an integral part of the whole. There was a view that there should be one overall project within which there was a recognition that services needed to be delivered differently to different communities. It was suggested that any new initiative should employ developmental workers to work with communities.

While perpetrator work was not an area of expertise for the voluntary sector in Coventry, it was felt that the programme should be led by a voluntary organisation, though with the involvement of other agencies.

From consultations with perpetrator programmes:

A group for non-convicted men in Coventry would be feasible but would require a great deal of hard work to establish, to raise the funds, and a commitment to the highest standards. Otherwise, there was a risk of doing more harm than good.

The Respect practice standards were seen as offering an essential baseline for good practice.

Projects operated in an interagency context, reflecting referral and funding sources, levels of local support and involvement, and the mix of the local community. Women's organisations needed to have a say in the management, design and delivery of services.

Health was emerging as an important potential player within this interagency context.

Formalised agreements covering resourcing, definitions, overall direction and detailed practice protocols were essential, particularly in a changing policy climate.

The definition adopted needed to be gendered and it was important only to work with men's abuse of women since group effectiveness depended on conveying the clearest of messages to perpetrators who had a shared set of behaviours and attitudes.

Projects needed their own office base and preferred to have both men's and women's workers located there. Much of the women's work might take place elsewhere.

Both men's and women's workers needed considerable experience and also specialised training.

Recruiting workers to men's projects was not easy.

No one reported a problem with attracting referrals of non-convicted men and there was little need for ongoing publicity, except with minority ethnic communities where active outreach was advantageous. Waiting times were more likely to be a problem.

Need to link with Domestic Violence Partnership/fora is crucial

Perpetrators had to telephone the project themselves, even if someone else initially suggested they be referred.

Social services referrals, within care plans where there were child protection concerns, might fill a third or more of the places in a group with fees being paid accordingly.

Close links were needed with drug and alcohol and with health/mental health services.

Completion rates were a problem in all behaviour change projects, particularly with non-convicted men, but those who did complete were more likely to be motivated to continue with the work afterwards. Sanctions for non-compliance were needed.

Initial assessment was essential in establishing motivation and suitability.

Perpetrator groups could be mixed in age, ethnicity, ability levels and socio-economic background. They were not suitable for gay men (unless there was specialist provision) but one-to-one work could be provided. Active attention to anti-racist practice, while also challenging cultural excuses for violence, were essential.

Partner feedback was the most important aspect of evaluation.

Women's support services needed to be an integrated part of the same project.

Men's groups needed parenting content and women's services needed childcare support. Children also had their own needs, requiring separate service development.

Finance was likely to be the hardest problem to solve. Charging other agencies and individual men for services both worked well. However, there was a need to raise two or three times as much again through grant funding. These services did not come cheap, with overall annual costs for an integrated service running at £90,000 or more.

It was essential to draw clear boundaries with the criminal justice system so that no man was accepted into the programme while a prosecution was pending, and there was no diversion from, or dilution of, sentencing.

There was likely to be a degree of hostility to the establishment of a men's programme but a commitment to high standards and to the paramountcy of women's and children's safety were normally a basis for a shared way forward.

The programme must be seen as one part of a comprehensive raft of services, with no competition for funding with emergency and outreach services for women.

STUDY CONCLUSIONS

Domestic violence is, not surprisingly, widespread in Coventry. We were uniformly advised by respondents, both local and national, that there should not be any difficulty in attracting sufficient referrals to a programme for non-convicted perpetrators. Achieving an ethnic and social mix would require work on appropriate publicity and outreach but would be possible on a city-wide basis. The most highly respected services operate a men's programme and a women's support service integrated within one specialist, formally constituted voluntary organisation, with the workers for both located in the same office base. One at least has come to this arrangement in preference to a previous partial separation and considers it the best way of meeting the safety needs of women and children. Local women's organisations, on the other hand, felt that they should take on any support work with women. This issue would need resolving, perhaps through a hybrid model as appears to operate in Colchester. Whatever is decided, there would need to be the closest possible working relationship between any new project and existing local organisations, particularly those working with abused women.

The project, if established, should adopt the minimum standards and good practice guidelines developed by the National Practitioners' Network (now relaunched as Respect) as a baseline for any new development, since they represent agreed best practice (Respect, 2000; see Appendix 1). Beyond this, the practitioners appointed to the potential project should be free to learn about, and to adapt, the detailed content in use in the most firmly established projects elsewhere, taking into account whether or not these have been evaluated in recommended ways.

The biggest problem for such a development might lie in raising adequate resources. A service level agreement with social services, if they were willing, could fill from a third to a half of the available places and, at the same time, provide some security in funding. The other priority beyond what has already been done should be in approaching a greater range of bodies in the health sector (currently in state of flux) because of the link with both women's and men's mental health, and with the physical well-being of women and children. There is a strong argument that domestic violence work falls within NHS priorities for a healthier nation. A wide range of organisations could be asked to contribute in cash or kind. Assistance from the City Council with low-cost premises would be invaluable, as would a formalised secondment of sessional workers from other agencies to co-lead groups. There would be one-off costs involved in equipping premises and undertaking initial publicity for which a range of organisations and community groups could fund-raise or make contributions. There would still be a need to attract substantial grant funding.

Without some consistency and security of resourcing for its core work, it would be more difficult for the project to recruit experienced workers and to put down roots in its local environment. This would, in any case, be a tall order but experience elsewhere suggests that it can be done. Although the project would be small, it would immediately become part of an impressive and supportive local partnership and national network. The latter would welcome another voluntary sector initiative since there is some feeling that the Home Office is imposing uniformity. Chances of successfully establishing a new organisation would therefore be good. Many of the key agencies in Coventry are already on board. There is more work to be done across the local community where the potential for widespread support is high but where considerable awareness-raising and information-sharing would still be needed. Minority ethnic communities would need to be closely involved, with participation by Asian and African Caribbean perpetrators in the project posing particular challenges for appropriate policy and practice development. The project's accountability to women would need to be reflected in a high level of involvement by local women's organisations in the design and delivery of the programme.

All sectors currently share a frustration with the lack of appropriate responses available in the Coventry area, outside of the criminal justice system, to challenge men's violent and abusive behaviour. There would inevitably be suspicions as to what a new body working with violent men could achieve and how it would operate. Working to agreed national principles would help to answer most of these concerns but all those involved would need to recognise that only a limited proportion of men do change their behaviour, however intensive the efforts of dedicated and skilled professionals, and that the commitment of resources in this direction can only ever form one aspect of a comprehensive raft of services. There has to be a clear decision that it is one priority amongst many, where the alternatives are to do nothing about violent men or to allow interventions to spring up, detached from the specialist domestic violence umbrella groups, which may do more harm than good.

If the project moves to the next step, tasks will include:

Maximising support for existing women's services and deciding how to design an integrated women's service to work with partners;

Outreach, publicity and awareness-raising across the City;

Detailed consideration of how to make the programme appropriate for diverse ethnic participation;

Drawing up formalised policies, resourcing agreements and practice protocols including to clarify boundaries with the criminal justice system and to optimise interagency working more generally;

Detailed budgeting and fund-raising;

Locating suitable premises;

Recruiting appropriately skilled and experienced workers;

Providing them with adequate initial training, consultancy and supervision;

Supporting them in operationalising the programme;

Incorporating measures to maximise completion rates;

Building in valid and reliable evaluation.

There remains a separate issue of developing appropriate services for children which cannot be subsumed under this current project but which the authors of this report would be pleased to discuss further.