Consulting Women Partners
Moira Andrew, Domestic
Violence Probation Project, Edinburgh
The Edinburgh Domestic
Violence Probation Project was set up in 1990. It is a
re-education programme very similar to that described by Monica
in the previous talk. Our guiding principal has been that in
order to improve the safety of women, we work with men who have
been convicted of an offence related to abuse of their partner.
From the same principal, we have developed a process of
consultation with partners that we feel both enhances the work
of our programme and empowers those partners prepared to
participate. Since 1990 we have consulted nearly 300 women. The
following description of our consultation process and its
purpose is therefore based on that experience.
WHY CONSULT?
Before I describe how this
process takes place, I would like to comment on not only what I
feel are the benefits of consulting a woman partner, both to the
woman herself and to the Criminal Justice System but also on the
impact of not consulting.
Throughout today we have heard
speakers define men's violence against their partners as one act
in a continuum of controlling and abusive behaviours designed to
maintain power over a woman partner. If challenged about their
behaviour and asked to explain their actions, the most honest
response would be something approaching "I was frightened
she was going to get the better of me". Instead, the commonest
explanation, as well as, "It wasn't that bad" and "It was the
drink" is a description of his unreasonable partner who provoked
him. As perpetrators are encouraged by their lawyers to ensure
the presence of their partner in court, women often have to
listen to a somewhat distorted version of events, and see the
court as re-affirming their powerlessness.
Again if a court is allowing a
perpetrator to define his problem, the resultant sentence may
reflect this. A sentence such as requiring a man to attend for
alcohol counselling or anger management is a reasonable disposal
if a court has only heard the perpetrator's explanation of his
violence.
Having personally consulted
the majority of these 300 women during assessments, at a time
when their partner has been convicted and is awaiting sentence,
I have come to realise that in so many cases the assaults that
result in conviction have a greater degree of significance than
others. We know that the majority of assaults will go
unreported. We also know that some women, having called the
police then refuse to give a statement. Similarly, we know that
a percentage of alleged offences are not prosecuted or are
diverted. In our experience any case that reaches the stage of
prosecution is for some reason significant and probably mostly
to the victim. Here are a number of statements from women
describing why this time they are involving the Court and how
they hope it will respond.
(1) "I spent a childhood
watching my father hit my mother. When I married I told my
husband if he ever hit me, I would get the police. This is the
first time this man has ever hit me and it was important for me
that I called the police".
(2) "If my neighbour hadn't
come when she did, I know I would have died. At first he was
charged with Assault to Severe Injury, it's now down to Common
Assault, but he and I both know he was trying to murder me".
(3) "He's told me for years
that the police would only laugh at a big woman like me saying I
had been assaulted by him, and for years I believed him".
So, if a Criminal Justice
process does decide to consult women, how can this be done in a
way that neither risks her safety nor does it jeopardise the
process of justice. The process that we have devised is only one
method and it has been constructed for a specific purpose but
may be transferable to other parts of the justice process.
HOW?
The Edinburgh Domestic
Violence Probation Project has two purposes in making contact
with a partner. The first is to consult them at the stage when
the man is being considered for the programme in order to get an
accurate picture of his abuse and assess for risk, and the
second is to seek the woman's co-operation in monitoring the
offender's behaviour if he is made the subject of a Domestic
Violence Probation Order. The procedure that we have developed
was done so in consultation with Edinburgh and Lothian Women's
Aid groups. When a man is facing sentence, having been convicted
of an offence related to the abuse of a woman partner, and where
the court has asked for a period of deferment for a Social
Enquiry Report, either the Sheriff or the social worker writing
the report can request the project staff to assess the man's
suitability for our re-education programme. As well as
interviewing the offender on his own, project staff and/or the
author of the Social Enquiry Report will write to his partner
requesting that she be interviewed on her own. The offender is
informed that we will be attempting to make contact with his
partner, or ex-partner, but no other information will be given
to him directly about that contact. Some women will tell their
partners that they have refused to speak to us but have in fact
made contact in secret.
The interview generally takes
place within the woman's home but working from the principle
that the project's intention is to increase the safety of women,
we respond to requests to meet in other locations, eg the house
of a friend. If the first principle of consultation with a woman
is her safety, then the second must be to believe what she says.
It is important to believe her, not only because we know that
women too will, if anything, underplay rather than exaggerate
the abuse, but also because some of the abuse levelled at women
can be so extreme or perhaps bizarre in nature that part of a
woman's reluctance to report it can often be because it appears
so unbelievable.
In the assessment interview we
will of course, be asking for the woman's description of what
happened during the assault that has led her partner to come to
the attention of the court, but we will also be asking her to
place this in a context of past abuse. By abuse we mean not only
physical violence, but all the other tactics of control that are
not seen as criminal acts. This can be a distressing interview
for many women especially if for whatever reason, they too have
attempted to minimise the extent of his behaviour.
Often women have stated that
they have never previously had the opportunity to tell someone
within the Criminal Justice process the extent of the abuse
without having to corroborate each individual act with physical
evidence. The women are asked to complete a behaviour checklist
that catalogues the types and frequency of tactics of control
that have been used against them. This interview is also an
opportunity to give factual information to a woman who perhaps
has never previously reported the abuse or who may be using this
period when her husband is either remanded in custody or bailed
not to approach, to make plans to leave or reconsider the
relationship.
As the defence is entitled to
have sight of all reports, often women interviewed at this stage
will be too afraid to have details of their interviews quoted in
any court report. As we make a promise to women that any
information they give during the interview will be used only
with their permission, more often than not our report will read
that the partner has been consulted but no reference will ever
be made to her statements.
If the woman is afraid to have
any reference made to her interview but is anxious that the
court is aware of her partner's previous abuse, an alternative
is to seek another agency to provide the information to the
court. In Edinburgh we use the information gathered by the
Divisional Domestic Violence Liaison Officers to lay before the
court; for example, - the number of previous 'call outs' to this
perpetrator's address to investigate abuse. Even if the women
refuses permission for any reference to be made to her
statements in the court report, her information will have added
to the knowledge of that Criminal Justice social worker and will
have influenced them in their selection of offence focused work.
For men who are required to
attend our programme, we ask their partners or ex-partners to
act as a consultant throughout the life of his Order. Some women
will have already separated but as there may still be ongoing
contact with him, they see the value of acting as consultants.
The men understand that this is a condition of their Probation
Order. During the Order we would ask to meet the perpetrator's
partner or ex-partner on two or three occasions throughout the
first twelve month period, generally prior to each probation
review, and ask her to comment on his continuing behaviour:
again this information is always confidential. With the help of
women whose partners have completed the programme we have
constructed an evaluation form. Part of the evaluation form is a
standard checklist of abusive actions with a frequency
measurement; the remainder of the evaluation is designed by the
woman herself. She is asked to define the negative attitudes of
her partner that she most feels are at the root of his abuse.
She is then asked to name an ideal positive attitude,
thereby constructing her own personal continuum on which she
can evaluate his behaviour.
Example:
Negative Attitude/Desired
attitude
Treats me as if I’m his mother
/Treats me with respect, as an equal
Score
-3 -2
-1 0
+1 +2 +3
The project staff do not make
any other demands on partners, but leave the option open for
them to make contact with staff at any time. Some partners of
men in the programme will take the opportunity of keeping a
telephone link with the staff and informing them of the men's
continued behaviour, either abusive or of positive changes.
As well as playing a valuable
role in the evaluation of the man's progress, we asked women to
comment on the programme itself, as sadly they have had to
become highly knowledgeable consultants in the field of domestic
violence. Who better to ask?
To sum up, provided that the
safety of women is a guiding principal, consultation can be
empowering for the women concerned, can increase the awareness
and understanding of a court, can assist a court in its risk
assessment and selection of the best possible disposal, and is
indispensable for workers doing offence-focused work with
perpetrators.
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