Fewer batterers put into programs
Victims' advocates fault plea bargains
As domestic homicides more than doubled in Massachusetts, judges across the state sent only about half as many batterers to abuse intervention programs last year as they did in 2003, according to public health officials.
The plunging numbers are raising concerns among victims' advocates that judges are too readily accepting plea bargains that allow offenders to attend shorter anger management classes instead of the more rigorous batterer-intervention programs.
Beyond that, state officials and advocates worry that fewer victims are taking their cases to court, for a variety of reasons. Among them: victims afraid of retaliation, illegal immigrants who are afraid to become involved in the criminal justice system, and a key Supreme Judicial Court ruling that puts more pressure on victims to provide often difficult testimony in their cases.
"If there are fewer prosecutions and fewer people being ordered to batterer intervention, it all starts to look like a pattern of lack of accountability for perpetrators," said Mary Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc. "It should then be no surprise that there are more homicides."
Officials at the state Department of Public Health said they have begun speaking with court officers to find out whether judges are approving more plea bargains that allow of fenders to bypass the intervention programs. Officials also want to know if judges are sending offenders to anger management classes instead, which studies show are less effective at stopping abuse.
"From a public health perspective what worries me the most is whether the courts are referring people appropriately," said Carlene Pavlos, director of the Division of Violence and Injury Prevention at the Department of Public Health.
Judges sent 1,192 people to intervention programs last year, compared with 2,231 referred to the programs in fiscal 2003.
The number of domestic violence homicides has increased sharply over the past four years, from 19 in 2003 to 42 last year.
The state does not specifically track the number of domestic violence crimes, because they are prosecuted as other offenses - aggravated assaults, for example. The state monitors the number of restraining orders issued, which has decreased from 30,952 in 2003 to 28,121 last year.
But that statistic does not explain the more precipitous decline in referrals to intervention programs or necessarily reflect a decrease in domestic violence, said Judge Kathleen Coffey of West Roxbury District Court. Coffey said she knows of many immigrants who are afraid to pursue cases because they fear being deported. "So if [intervention programs are] not being employed on a consistent basis . . . then I'm concerned there is no adequate substitute," Coffey said.
A 2005 Supreme Judicial Court ruling may also have taken a toll on the number of cases that make it to court, according to judges and directors of the intervention programs. The ruling decreed that most statements police obtain while they are investigating a crime cannot be used in court unless the witness can be cross-examined. This may have made prosecutors less likely to take a domestic violence case to trial if a victim does not want to testify.
Whatever the reason for the drop in referrals, the trend is troubling, said Judge Sidney Hanlon of the Dorchester District Court.
"It's a program I believe that is very effective," she said. "There are many, many people who could be helped, who could be directed from further violence with exponentially better effects for their partners and their families."
State law mandates that judges send men who violate restraining orders to batterer intervention programs, which last 40 weeks. Offenders accused of assaulting their partners, however, are not mandated to go to a program, but may be ordered to attend by a judge. The offender is required to pay a weekly fee for the session, generally about $25, but most programs offer lower fees for men who cannot afford the full amount. Those who cannot afford to pay anything can perform community service.
The point of the programs is for batterers to explore why they became abusive and why that was wrong, said Tony Burns, coexecutive director of Common Purpose, which runs intervention programs around Boston.
"These guys need to be held accountable and they need to be told and be given the opportunity to process that what they did was wrong," he said. "Not giving them that opportunity, it [reinforces] the opportunity to feel justified or to feel that it isn't a big deal."
Defense attorneys said men accused of domestic violence - many of whom believe they are not guilty - will often resist plea bargains that require an intervention program, as a matter of principle. The program forces them to acknowledge they have been abusive, while anger management classes focus generally on helping participants control their temper.
Judges and prosecutors, in turn, often agree to plea bargains as a way to avoid costly and lengthy trials, while still holding a defendant accountable.
A defendant who believes he is innocent of domestic violence may agree to seek counseling to avoid going through a trial, but may be unwilling to agree to the intervention program, said Kari Tannenbaum, a public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services.
"An anger management program may be more appropriate because then a person can deal with anger management issues without this sort of requirement that they plead guilty at the batterer's program, when they didn't have to plead guilty in court," Tannenbaum said. "Every person in every case is unique and should be treated as such, so I worry about blanket policies."
Advocates of the intervention programs say that anger management does not address the root causes of domestic abuse, such as skewed perspectives on relationships and having power over one's partner. "Anger management looks at triggers for what causes anger and teaches people how to monitor their triggers and not act on their anger," said Pavlos. "But battering is not the result of anger."
Pavlos said batterers often know how to control their anger with others, but then "direct it only at their partners."
Anger management classes, which are less expensive and usually last only about eight to 12 weeks, are significantly less effective, according to a 2004 study by the Massachusetts Trial Court.
The study included a review of about 100 people who completed batterer-intervention programs after violating restraining orders. Of those, only about 34 percent were arraigned again for a violent crime. But, the study showed, about 43 percent of people who completed anger management courses were later arraigned for a violent crime.
But since 2003, the number of intervention programs has dropped statewide from 24 to 16, said David Adams, co-founder of Emerge, a Cambridge-based nonprofit organization that offers intervention programs.
Without referrals from the courts, the programs, which rely partly on fees paid by batterers, cannot survive. "We're a valuable resource, and I feel that it's being squandered," Adams said.
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. 