The Splintered Mind and Path to a Healed Society: The State of Indiana Should Mandate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Domestic Violence Batterers

Abstract

offense. 3 Studies suggest that there is significant uncertainty in the efficacy of Batterer Intervention Programs ("BIPs"). 4 Further, evidence suggests a large percentage of perpetrators of domestic violence reoffend, despite participation in batterer intervention programs. 5 This Note includes three parts. The first part discusses the issue of domestic violence, including the history of domestic violence, statistics of domestic violence incidents, the issue of failure to report domestic violence abuse, risk factors contributing to domestic violence, the role of healthcare providers in identifying domestic violence, the effects of domestic violence on children, and the domestic violence cycle. The second part will discuss how the law has viewed and treated domestic violence over the years, domestic violence recidivism rates, the different intervention programs used by different states, specifically, background information and research on the Duluth Model and CBT, and the impact of Covid-19 on domestic violence incident and recidivism rates. The final part of this Note examines and analyzes the differences between the Duluth Model and CBT. It also highlights why CBT is the more effective method in ending the domestic violence cycle and reducing recidivism, the future of CBT in treating domestic violence batterers, a hypothetical statute adopting CBT as a uniform intervention method, and the advantages and disadvantages to using CBT. III. BACKGROUNDDomestic violence includes the acts of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and economic abuse. 6 In the United States, 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner. 7 This equals 10 million abused men and women per year. 8 Almost one out of five murder victims in the United States were killed by an intimate partner. 9 Approximately 3.2 million children in the United States each year witness violence against their mother or female 3.