Standards and Protocols for Batterers' Intervention Programs
last updated August 2013
Numerous protocols, standards, and guidelines have been developed for batterers’ intervention programs (BIPs) in the U.S.[1] In general, standards govern issues such as program format and content, record keeping and reporting, attendance, program and staff requirements, acceptance and rejection policies, intake procedures, confidentiality, and victim notification and contact. Their priority is victim safety, but they have the additional goal of holding offenders accountable. Examples include:
- Indiana’s Batterer’s Intervention Program Standards & Certification Guidelines (2013),[2]
- Minnesota’s Current and Evolving Practices: Guidelines for Programs that Work with People who Batter (2010),[3]
- Missouri’s Standards and Guidelines for Batterer Intervention Programs (2006),[4]
- Nebraska’s Domestic Violence Offender Program Standards (2012).[5]
The Batterer Intervention Services Coalition Michigan provides links to legal standards for batterers' intervention programs that have been developed by different states in the United States.
In 2009, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Family Violence Prevention Fund (now Futures without Violence) drafted Policy and Practice Recommendations to address earlier NIJ research findings that BIPs “do not change batterers’ attitudes toward women or domestic violence, and . . . have little to no impact on reoffending.”[6] Recognizing that intervention programs did work for some men, the groups identified key elements of a model program, which were published in Batterer Intervention: Doing the Work and Measuring the Progress (2009).[7]
Work with Perpetrators (WWP) of Domestic Violence in Europe, funded, in part, by the European Commission’s Daphne II Program to combat violence against children, young people and women, sought “to increase the safety of victims of domestic violence by fostering a European exchange about good practice in the work with male perpetrators of domestic violence.”[8] The project published Guidelines to Develop Standards for Programmes Working with Male Perpetrators of Domestic Violence (2008).[9] It also published a summary of existing country programs, including legislation on domestic violence.[10] Both resources are available in multiple languages on the WWP website.
The Statement of Principles and Minimum Standards of Practice for Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes and Associated Women’s Services (2004), published by Respect, the United Kingdom’s National Association of Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes and Associated Support, articulates basic principles that should form the foundation of a batterers' intervention program.[11] The document also includes Minimum Standards of Practice for Associated Women's Services, which outlines basic principles for the provision of services to victims of domestic violence in connection with batterers' intervention programs.
[1] See Heather Parker, Batterer Intervention Programs: State Standards for Service Providers (2007), accessed August 2013, http://www.njep-ipsacourse.org/PDFs/BIPStateStandardsUpdated.pdf; David Adams, Certified Batterer Intervention Programs: History, Philosophies, Techniques, Collaborations, Innovations and Challenges (2003), accessed August 2013, http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/Certified%20Batterer%20Intervention%20Programs.pdf; “Other State’s Standards,” Batterer Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan, http://www.biscmi.org/other_resources/state_standards.html.
[2] Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Batterers’ Intervention Program Standards & Certification Guidelines (approved 2013), access August 13, 2013, http://www.icadvinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/BIP-Standards-and-Certification-Guidelines.pdf.
[3] Greater Twin Cities United Way, Current and Evolving Practices: Guidelines for Programs that Work with People who Batter (2010), accessed August 13, 2013, http://unitedfrontmn.org/family-violence/files/2010/10/FINAL-Current-and-Evolving-Practices_10510.pdf.
[4] Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, Standards and Guidelines for Batterer Intervention Programs (2006), accessed August 13, 2013, http://www.biscmi.org/other_resources/BIP_Service_Standard_June_2006.pdf.
[5] Nebraska Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Coalition, Domestic Violence Offender Program Standards (2012), accessed August 13, 2013, http://www.ndvsac.org/wp-content/uploads/General/BIP/Final_State_Standards_revision_6_15_12.pdf.
[6] “Batterer Intervention Programs Often Do Not Chanage Offender Behavior,” National Institute of Justice, accessed August 13, 2013, http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/intimate-partner-violence/interventions/batterer-intervention.htm#note1.
[7] Lucy Salcido Carter, Batterer Intervention: Doing the Work and Measuring the Progress: A Report on the December 2009 Experts Roundtable (2009), accessed August 13, 2013, http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/Batterer%20Intervention%20Meeting%20Report.pdf.
[8] “Project Information,” Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence in Europe, http://www.work-with-perpetrators.eu/en/project.php.
[9] Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence in Europe, Guidelines to Develop Standards for Programmes Working with male Perpetrators of Domestic Violence (2008), accessed August 13, 2013, http://www.work-with-perpetrators.eu/documents/standards/wwp_standards_2008_vers_1_1.pdf?sprache=standards%2Fwwp_standards_2008_vers_1_1.pdf&submit=Download.
[10] Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence in Europe, Country Summaries (2008), accessed August 13, 2013,http://www.work-with-perpetrators.eu/documents/countrysummaries/wwp_country_summaries_en_2008_vers_1_1.pdf?sprache=countrysummaries%2Fwwp_country_summaries_en_2008_vers_1_1.pdf&submit=download.
[11] Respect, Statement of Principles and Minimum Standards of Practice for Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes and Associated Women’s Services (2004), accessed August 13, 2013, http://www.respect.uk.net/data/files/old_site/Respect%20Statement%20of%20Principles%20and%20Minimum%20Standards%20of %20Practice%202004.pdf.