A Longitudinal Examination of Offending and Specialization Among a Sample of Massachusetts Domestic Violence Offenders

Abstract

A paucity of existing research focuses on longitudinal examinations of criminal trajectories among reoffenses committed by domestic violence offenders. Specifically, few studies have longitudinally assessed whether domestic violence offenders specialize, recidivating in domestic violence assault, or generalize, committing a range of personal and property crimes. Acknowledging these research deficiencies, the current study uses longitudinal data from a cohort of 317 batterers who were processed in a domestic violence court to investigate the trajectories of domestic violence arrests and nondomestic violence arrests over a 10-year period. The degree of overlap between domestic and nondomestic violence arrest trajectory groups is examined through a cross-tabulation and chi-square analysis. Logistic and multinomial regression models are applied to identify risk factors that distinguish trajectory groups. A PROC TRAJ procedure identifies two trajectory groups for domestic violence arrests (low and high rate) and three trajectory groups for nondomestic violence arrests (very low, low, and high rate). Results indicate that specialization among domestic violence offenders is rare-prior alcohol and drug crimes predict membership in the high-rate domestic violence arrest trajectory group and prior domestic violence arrests predict membership in both the low-rate and high-rate nondomestic violence arrest trajectories. Implications for future research and policy are discussed in this article.

Estado actual y retos futuros de los programas para hombres condenados por violencia de género en España

“…En este sentido, el consumo de alcohol y el abuso de sustancias, el ajuste psicosocial y el historial previo de violencia, o los problemas con la ley, se han considerado factores que afectan a la probabilidad de abandono de los programas y de la reincidencia en el comportamiento violento (Jewell y Wormith, 2010;Richards, Jennings, Tomsich y Gover, 2013;Stalans y Seng 2007).…”

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“…(A. Milgrom, personal communication, November 27, 2013) These vignettes, though drawn from work with men in two very different domestic abuse programs, indicate the common challenge for facilitators to engage abusive men in ways that will activate their change process. The focus in the domestic abuse literature has been on treatment outcome with less attention paid to engagement (Richards, Jennings, Tomsich, & Gover, 2012;Sartin, Hansen, & Huss, 2006). A recent review of 40 instruments that measure engagement, none of which was originally applied to men who batter, reveals this lack of focus on engagement in domestic abuse treatment (Tetley, Jinks, Huband, & Howell, 2011).…”

Signature dish: Triangulation from data signatures to examine the role of security in falling crime

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