Respect
For perpetrators and
victims of domestic
abuse; respect
phoneline.org.uk,
0808 802 4040Refuge
For women and
children affected by
domestic abuse;
refuge.org.uk, 0808
200 0247Most perpetrator programmes work with low to
medium-risk offenders; in order to take part they must
accept responsibility for their behaviour and not have
other issues such as an addiction to drugs or alcohol.
But there is one scheme that is actively engaging those
who are most harmful. The Drive programme operates
in ten police areas and works only with serial offenders
and those who pose a risk of causing a partner serious
harm. Those who are referred — 97 per cent are male
— typically do not take responsibility for their violence
and see no reason to stop.
Structurally, Drive takes a similar approach to the
Duluth model. When a woman is identified as being at
high risk of domestic violence, an interdepartmental
committee is triggered to discuss the best options
to keep her safe. A parallel meeting is convened to
consider the perpetrator, managed by a senior police
officer. Initially they are looking for ways to disrupt
the violence, which might mean restraining orders or
other legal steps. The broader aim, though, is to engage
the perpetrator in longer-term intervention: practical
support such as referrals to mental health and drug
and alcohol services, or help with housing to make sure
they do not keep returning to the victim’s home.
It is a controversial strategy, even for those delivering
it. I spoke to Lorraine, a case manager in south London
who had previously only worked with victims. “The
perpetrator was always this abstract being,” she says.
“They had a name but we viewed them in terms of
‘they are all the same and do the same things’.” Now she
reviews the case histories of men whose criminality
started at 13 or 14 years old. Misogyny is one reason for
the behaviour; some of the men talk about abuse as a
punishment for being “disrespected”.
Often there are other issues at play, Lorraine says.
“You will hear about domestic abuse, physical abuse
from a father. There may be a bereavement they never
dealt with.” None of these are excuses. “Plenty of people
experience these things and don’t become violent,” she
says. But the abuser’s background provides a starting
point, a way to understand their behaviour and how to
set about changing it. Those who are referred to Drive
are not generally used to co-operating with authorities,
so success hinges largely on the skills of the people
delivering the programme. Case managers will try to
identify an agency — such as child services or housing
— that the abuser is co-operating with and will piggy-
back with them in a three-way meeting. They don’t talk
about domestic abuse directly but about “healthy
relationships” with partners and children. Astonishingly,
50 per cent of perpetrators agree to engage.
It can be slow and laborious work. Most of these men
will never have been challenged about their violence
before, but the results can be surprising. Lorraine
recalls one young man who turned up every week and
engaged really well. “He said he found it uncomfortable
at times because he didn’t like talking about him being
abusive,” she says. But a few months in he had an
argument with his partner and “instead of it ending in
an abusive incident, which it usually did, he was able to
walk away and leave the property. And that was huge for
him — and for me as his case manager.”
An evaluation of the Drive pilot schemes that ran in
Essex, south Wales and West Sussex was published by
Bristol University last year. Twelve months on from
the end of the programmes, high-risk physical abuse
had fallen by 82 per cent; sexual abuse by 88 per cent;
harassment and stalking behaviours by 75 per cent;
and jealous and controlling behaviours by 73 per cent.
Nearly 3,000 men have been through the Drive
programme and many more have been referred since it
began in 2016.
Many of Drive’s most vocal champions, such as
Annie Gibbs, 36, are survivors of abuse themselves.
“It’s really important that we are tackling these
behaviours and creating opportunities for perpetrators
to go in and get these interventions,” she says. Not only
is it the most effective way to stop the violence
escalating, Gibbs says, but it’s logical that
we focus on perpetrators as they are the ones whose
behaviour needs to change. Like many of those I spoke
to, she thinks that perpetrator strategies come into
effect too late. To get ahead of the problem, she says,
schools need to be teaching children about healthy
relationships. Case manager Lorraine agrees. She’s
been called into classrooms to talk to 10 and 11-year-
olds after teachers caught them watching violent
porn, which she describes as a “recipe for disaster”.
James-Hanman believes an interdepartmental
approach to male violence will help to identify it and
tackle it earlier on. “Perpetrators will most commonly
crop up in social services, child protection, GP
surgeries, drug and alcohol abuse services,” she says.
“GPs should recognise that if they have a man sitting
in front of them saying they are having trouble sleeping
after the end of a relationship, they might mention
anger management rather than prescribing
antidepressants and moving on.”
Ultimately, we need to let go of the idea that working
with abusers is wrong. “We have to shift away from
the idea that it is about giving them anything,”
Lightburn-Ritchie says. “It’s not really about them at all,
it’s about making sure they are not going to keep
damaging other people’s lives.” nThe names of the men have been changedA year after abusers
started a programme
the proportion of
women injured as a
result of violence fell
from 61% to 2%
Don’t Be That Guy,
a recent campaign
by Police Scotland,
calls for men to
question their
own behaviour
towards women as
a means of tackling
domestic abuseThe Sunday Times Magazine • 41