Risk factors associated with the intervention of perpetrators of domestic violence

INTRODUCTION: South Africa has the highest incidence of violence against women and a woman is killed every six hours by an intimate partner. Furthermore, women in South Africa are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than a stranger. It seems apparent that not much is known about the men who will continue to use violence in an intimate relationship or those who would kill their partners. International trends have indicated that intervention with either the survivor or the batterer in isolation is futile and greater recognition has been given to the development of comprehensive and co-ordinated responses. These co-ordinated responses must include community, social as well as criminal justice interventions. Yet, intervention programmes for batterers are in their infancy in Africa, with a special interest developing really only over the last five years. The initial development of any intervention for batterers emerged from the observation that the beatings or killings did not stop simply because the survivor received an intervention. Yet the batterer programmes that developed were not always in the best interest or safety of the women. METHODS: This study used the methodological framework of intervention research and design to develop a technology for intervening with the batterer himself. The different phases of this methodological framework was used to analyse the problem, gather and synthesize information through a literature review, study functional elements of successful batterer intervention programmes and then to design a risk-based assessment and intervention guidelines. The writer implemented an existing risk assessment guide, called the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment guide (SARA) to this end and the outcomes informed the design of the framework. The writer used purposive sampling to include the 53 male respondents and 47 female respondents in this study. RESULTS: The main findings of this study concur with the overall trends reflected in literature on domestic violence and the management of batterers. The implementation of the SARA guidelines further confirmed that treatment providers must assess batterers very thoroughly prior to the commencement of batterer intervention programmes. The identification of risk markers must clearly be taken into consideration when programmes are developed to manage the batterer as a means to stop ongoing domestic violence. Specific findings that emerged from the different phases of the research methodology are presented in greater detail in this final research report. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study concur with the main trends detected in the literature regarding the risk markers for continued violence. Batterers who have a history of violence, were exposed to violence during childhood, are impulsive and present with poor anger management skills appear to continue using intimate violence. Those men who tend to ignore or violate protection orders and restraining orders also appear to be more committed to using continued intimate violence

Challenges faced by unaccompanied minor-refugees in South Africa

This qualitative study explored the experiences of unaccompanied minor-refugees from Zimbabwe to South Africa. Ten (10) participants, from a shelter in Limpopo Province, were selected using Purposive sampling. Five childcare workers also participated. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the minors and a focus group with the childcare workers to collect the data. Thematic analysis was applied for data analysis. The findings revealed that services by statutory social workers were limited, compared to services by social workers employed in non-governmental organisations. The results highlighted the vulnerability to exploitation and a sense of hopelessness that refugee children experience in South Afric

The effects of biological fathers’ incarceration on adolescent children and the challenges of absentee biological fathers

In western cultures, invested in a discourse of heteronormativity, biological fathers are the ‘breadwinners’ of families, and mothers, the ‘caregivers’. In societies with this dominant discourse, the traditional family structures discourage fathers from being involved parents. However, criminological and psychological fields acknowledge that incarcerating biological fathers distresses families, especially children. Research on incarcerated fathers consistently demonstrates the harmful effects of incarceration on children across many developmental outcomes. This paper explores the damage of paternal incarceration and its effect on adolescent children. Attachment Theory is the primary theoretical framework applied, with a qualitative research approach, and a purposive sampling method. Fourteen biological fathers, incarcerated for various offences, were interviewed in Cape Town, South Africa. In addition, five of the incarcerated fathers’ adolescent children participated in the study. In-depth interviews were conducted with the fathers and focus groups undertaken with the adolescents. The findings indicated intersections with adolescent deviant behaviours, parental incarceration, and the absence of paternal parenting roles/responsibilities. Additionally, the fathers struggled to maintain their role as ’fathers’, after incarceration, as they were excluded from family decision- making, and their children’s development. The adolescent children were also emotionally affected by the stigma of an imprisoned father. They experienced feelings of abandonment and yearned for the father-child relationship during adolescence. In addition, the incarcerated fathers faced challenges with the demands of survival in prison, and elected to adopt a ‘criminal mind-set’, to blend in. Penitentiary conditions, and ‘criminal’ activities, often superseded any family obligations, where support, contributions, or participation in decision-making was required. Ultimately, the importance of joint decision-making, caregiving and parenting, for the children’s optimum development, was revealed, with suggestions for interventions. Incarceration of biological fathers has specific consequences for the whole family, especially adolescent children. The social patterning of repression, negatively affects the incarcerated and their families, who are mere bystanders.DHE

Management of domestic violence: risk-based assessment and intervention guidelines with perpetrators of intimate violence

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe main goal of this study was to develop assessment and intervention guidelines that will provide practitioners with a framework to develop and implement batterer intervention programmes. The development of batterer intervention programmes must be informed by risk-based assessment and the study has identified this as a priority. This priority was informed by the popular notions that batterer intervention by itself, is futile and that intervention efforts were misdirected and useless. The author was of the opinion that if specific risk markers were identified, the batterer intervention efforts could be a tool to influence the values, beliefs and dangerous behaviours of abusive men. This study attempted to formally identify those risk factors that should be considered with batterers so that appropriate guidelines for assessment and intervention could result.South Afric