ROLE WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
1. NOMAS Model batterer programs’ role in the community is within the context of the civil and criminal court systems.
"Rehabilitative" batterer programs, operating outside of the civil and criminal court systems, lend credence to the idea that domestic violence is a treatable pathology, caused by stress, poverty, ignorance, family history, etc. Though each of these may be stressors, they are not the source of domestic violence. The time spent addressing these issues may be useful - but are neither the source of nor relevant to ending his violence against his intimate partner. This is detrimental to individual women who may be staying in harm’s way, while waiting for their partners to "be fixed."
Most importantly, efforts to fix or rehabilitate individuals detract from critical social change efforts essential to ending men's violence against women. NOMAS Model programs believe that social change efforts are critical and can eventually lead to individual men choosing to not abuse that is, to treat their partners’ respectfully.
2. NOMAS Model batterer programs’ accept and monitor court-ordered men.
After twenty years of accepting both court mandated and “self-referred” or “voluntary” participants, the NOMAS Model program has evolved to accepting court mandates only. Why?
a. It was increasingly clear that the role of batterer programs as rehabilitative for abusive men needed to be refuted. Research, tragic incidents, and anecdotal reports from across the country demanded this.
b. "Offender accountability" became watchwords. In order to ensure offender accountability, there must be real consequences for men who enter programs but do not comply with program policies, for those who attend irregularly or who do not register and enroll as per their mandate.
c. Self-referred participants are often given credit for their willingness to attend and for their initiative and commitment to end their abusive behavior. When this credit is given by the partner he abused, it understandably results in her postponing safety and protective plans, grounded in the depth of her hope, not in the reality she has been living. It also lulls others around him (both within his family, social network and those within the larger community) into a period of waiting and hoping.
When batterer programs accept voluntary men, they are often enrolling those who are being pressured to “get help”. For instance, “If you don’t get help I will leave.” Or I won’t come home unless you get help.” Another common moment of a voluntary enrollee is after an arrest, awaiting a court appearance. Many of these men report being encouraged by their attorney’s to start a program before their court appearance.
Over many years of working with men in batterer programs, we have learned that when the pressure diminishes at home or when the judiciary, upon hearing he is already enrolled in a program, does not issue an order; he stops attending the batterer program. When this occurs, the batterer program has colluded with the abuser against the criminal justice system and has compromised his partner’s safety.
d. When a separate group was formed for self-referrals, it was decided that although the curriculum would be the same, it would not be called a “batterer” program and there would be no attendance reports. Participation was minimal to non-existent!
3. NOMAS Model batterer programs are designed for men who appear in court in relation to offenses against intimate female partners.
Men are eligible for NOMAS Model programs if their offense is in relation to intimate women partners. It is clear that stranger assaults are not appropriate referrals.
Although there have been Gay men in our programs, their offenses have been against intimate woman partners. Lesbians and other women who are domestic violence defendants are referred to our local domestic violence and sexual assault programs for assessment, referral and service. As for the LGBT Community, the NOMAS Model for Batterer Programs is based on principles and tenets that could be adapted for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities.
4. NOMAS Model batterer programs are one in a graduated series of penalties available to the courts.
The NOMAS Model is a sanction that a judge may choose in determining an appropriate sentence for domestic violence offenses. This penalty is offered in the context that punishment should be based on the seriousness of the crime committed, and not on the relationship between the accused and his victim.
Historically, punishment of men’s offenses against female intimate partners has been less severe than for crimes against victims who do not fit this category. Battered women’s advocates have said that these crimes should be more seriously dealt with due to the ongoing security risk posed by the access the offender has to the victim.
When dealing with domestic violence offenders, NOMAS Model programs urge courts to use the most serious penalty possible, at the earliest possible moment, based on the level of the crime committed. Routinely responding to domestic violence cases in this manner will go a long way towards altering the historic leniency and tolerance for these crimes.
5. NOMAS Model batterer programs play a role in a community's social change efforts.
The intuitive question, "Does it work?" is similar to the equally intuitive, "Why does she stay?" Over the years, both questions have taken us in a wrong direction and have had negative effects on our progress as a social change movement.
"Why does she stay?" points to what is wrong with individual women, as if she is ignorant or that his violence is deserved because she is staying with him. NOMAS Model programs suggest that we answer that question by looking at the community standards that make staying the viable, respectable choice for untold numbers of women.
“Does it work?” directs us to the individual men within programs – to assess their “progress.” Decades of anecdotal reports from partners of men in programs and millions of dollars of research provide the answer: inconclusive, insignificant results. No. Batterer programs that attempt to: treat, rehabilitate, fix, or otherwise stop men from abusing their partners, do not work! Holding offenders accountable within the context of a criminal, civil justice context is achievable and, in fact, has proven to work!
The NOMAS Model works to affirm social change efforts. The NOMAS Model enhances the criminal justice system’s capacity to hold offenders accountable for their crimes and extends the court’s capacity to monitor their compliance with the order to attend the program.
NOMAS Model programs provide participants with all the information and material necessary to make personal transformation possible (from controlling and abusive behavior, to respectful behavior) while underscoring that it is fully their responsibility to decide if they are willing to do so.
6. NOMAS Model batterer programs are a tool for judicial monitoring of a referred man’s compliance with court orders to attend.
NOMAS Model batterer programs create respectful, doable attendance and participation policies that every referred person can achieve. NOMAS Model programs make it possible for participants to satisfy the court’s order to attend.
NOMAS Model programs urge courts to add attendance at a NOMAS Model program as an additional sentence when issuing an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD) or a Conditional Discharge (CD). In each of these outcomes, defendants leave the court with an admonition not to offend again. One advocate said that this seems to be a, “. . . minor slap on the wrist . . .” for an infraction that should at least warrant participation in a program.
A defendant is solely responsible for his decision to comply with the court’s order.
NOMAS Model program participants are informed, during registration/orientation, about what will be required of them in order to comply with the program’s policies and practices. They are also made aware that non-compliance is immediately reported to the court.
It is noteworthy that program policies exemplify that we hold each participant fully accountable only for what we can truly hold him accountable. (ie If we say he has to arrive by a particular time and he does not, he may not enter late and is marked absent. If we say he must bring his assigned fee in order to gain entrance and he does not, he may not enter and he is marked absent.) This is an important lesson and a hallmark of social change, moving away from domestic violence defendants historically “getting by.” The rules are routinely and evenly maintained.
"Rehabilitative" batterer programs, operating outside of the civil and criminal court systems, lend credence to the idea that domestic violence is a treatable pathology, caused by stress, poverty, ignorance, family history, etc. Though each of these may be stressors, they are not the source of domestic violence. The time spent addressing these issues may be useful - but are neither the source of nor relevant to ending his violence against his intimate partner. This is detrimental to individual women who may be staying in harm’s way, while waiting for their partners to "be fixed."
Most importantly, efforts to fix or rehabilitate individuals detract from critical social change efforts essential to ending men's violence against women. NOMAS Model programs believe that social change efforts are critical and can eventually lead to individual men choosing to not abuse that is, to treat their partners’ respectfully.
2. NOMAS Model batterer programs’ accept and monitor court-ordered men.
After twenty years of accepting both court mandated and “self-referred” or “voluntary” participants, the NOMAS Model program has evolved to accepting court mandates only. Why?
a. It was increasingly clear that the role of batterer programs as rehabilitative for abusive men needed to be refuted. Research, tragic incidents, and anecdotal reports from across the country demanded this.
b. "Offender accountability" became watchwords. In order to ensure offender accountability, there must be real consequences for men who enter programs but do not comply with program policies, for those who attend irregularly or who do not register and enroll as per their mandate.
c. Self-referred participants are often given credit for their willingness to attend and for their initiative and commitment to end their abusive behavior. When this credit is given by the partner he abused, it understandably results in her postponing safety and protective plans, grounded in the depth of her hope, not in the reality she has been living. It also lulls others around him (both within his family, social network and those within the larger community) into a period of waiting and hoping.
When batterer programs accept voluntary men, they are often enrolling those who are being pressured to “get help”. For instance, “If you don’t get help I will leave.” Or I won’t come home unless you get help.” Another common moment of a voluntary enrollee is after an arrest, awaiting a court appearance. Many of these men report being encouraged by their attorney’s to start a program before their court appearance.
Over many years of working with men in batterer programs, we have learned that when the pressure diminishes at home or when the judiciary, upon hearing he is already enrolled in a program, does not issue an order; he stops attending the batterer program. When this occurs, the batterer program has colluded with the abuser against the criminal justice system and has compromised his partner’s safety.
d. When a separate group was formed for self-referrals, it was decided that although the curriculum would be the same, it would not be called a “batterer” program and there would be no attendance reports. Participation was minimal to non-existent!
3. NOMAS Model batterer programs are designed for men who appear in court in relation to offenses against intimate female partners.
Men are eligible for NOMAS Model programs if their offense is in relation to intimate women partners. It is clear that stranger assaults are not appropriate referrals.
Although there have been Gay men in our programs, their offenses have been against intimate woman partners. Lesbians and other women who are domestic violence defendants are referred to our local domestic violence and sexual assault programs for assessment, referral and service. As for the LGBT Community, the NOMAS Model for Batterer Programs is based on principles and tenets that could be adapted for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities.
4. NOMAS Model batterer programs are one in a graduated series of penalties available to the courts.
The NOMAS Model is a sanction that a judge may choose in determining an appropriate sentence for domestic violence offenses. This penalty is offered in the context that punishment should be based on the seriousness of the crime committed, and not on the relationship between the accused and his victim.
Historically, punishment of men’s offenses against female intimate partners has been less severe than for crimes against victims who do not fit this category. Battered women’s advocates have said that these crimes should be more seriously dealt with due to the ongoing security risk posed by the access the offender has to the victim.
When dealing with domestic violence offenders, NOMAS Model programs urge courts to use the most serious penalty possible, at the earliest possible moment, based on the level of the crime committed. Routinely responding to domestic violence cases in this manner will go a long way towards altering the historic leniency and tolerance for these crimes.
5. NOMAS Model batterer programs play a role in a community's social change efforts.
The intuitive question, "Does it work?" is similar to the equally intuitive, "Why does she stay?" Over the years, both questions have taken us in a wrong direction and have had negative effects on our progress as a social change movement.
"Why does she stay?" points to what is wrong with individual women, as if she is ignorant or that his violence is deserved because she is staying with him. NOMAS Model programs suggest that we answer that question by looking at the community standards that make staying the viable, respectable choice for untold numbers of women.
“Does it work?” directs us to the individual men within programs – to assess their “progress.” Decades of anecdotal reports from partners of men in programs and millions of dollars of research provide the answer: inconclusive, insignificant results. No. Batterer programs that attempt to: treat, rehabilitate, fix, or otherwise stop men from abusing their partners, do not work! Holding offenders accountable within the context of a criminal, civil justice context is achievable and, in fact, has proven to work!
The NOMAS Model works to affirm social change efforts. The NOMAS Model enhances the criminal justice system’s capacity to hold offenders accountable for their crimes and extends the court’s capacity to monitor their compliance with the order to attend the program.
NOMAS Model programs provide participants with all the information and material necessary to make personal transformation possible (from controlling and abusive behavior, to respectful behavior) while underscoring that it is fully their responsibility to decide if they are willing to do so.
6. NOMAS Model batterer programs are a tool for judicial monitoring of a referred man’s compliance with court orders to attend.
NOMAS Model batterer programs create respectful, doable attendance and participation policies that every referred person can achieve. NOMAS Model programs make it possible for participants to satisfy the court’s order to attend.
NOMAS Model programs urge courts to add attendance at a NOMAS Model program as an additional sentence when issuing an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD) or a Conditional Discharge (CD). In each of these outcomes, defendants leave the court with an admonition not to offend again. One advocate said that this seems to be a, “. . . minor slap on the wrist . . .” for an infraction that should at least warrant participation in a program.
A defendant is solely responsible for his decision to comply with the court’s order.
NOMAS Model program participants are informed, during registration/orientation, about what will be required of them in order to comply with the program’s policies and practices. They are also made aware that non-compliance is immediately reported to the court.
It is noteworthy that program policies exemplify that we hold each participant fully accountable only for what we can truly hold him accountable. (ie If we say he has to arrive by a particular time and he does not, he may not enter late and is marked absent. If we say he must bring his assigned fee in order to gain entrance and he does not, he may not enter and he is marked absent.) This is an important lesson and a hallmark of social change, moving away from domestic violence defendants historically “getting by.” The rules are routinely and evenly maintained.