One of the things domestic violence treatment providers need to screen for is people who have been charged but not yet sentenced for domestic violence.
Abusers often have a history of manipulating others, both inter-personally as well as using systems such as employment, mediation services, courts, religious organizations or legal systems to do so.
When people are arrested for domestic violence, their defense attorney will often suggest they enroll in a domestic violence treatment class to make themselves look good before the judge and to show sincerity and earnestness in getting help for their problems as a means to have their sentence reduced.
If they do enroll in treatment at this point in order to manipulate the system they are actually not being treated - the therapist is tacitly endorsing the manipulation, taking money for it as well as sending messages to the victim that the abuser is once-again getting away with manipulating others - all sorts of ethical issues here on the parts of therapists and treatment providers.
The problem with power and control issues/abusive behaviors is that these are a part of a larger pattern and are ingrained behaviors. There is a significant difference between developing accountability, insight, empathy and understanding of one's issues, and simply admitting them.
Admitting an offender "has a problem" may happen in the courtroom, or upon being confronted with evidence that they had committed a crime/were abusive or even upon being arrested. Admittance however does not instantly give anyone the insight, skills or tools necessary to navigate life's difficulties or pursue healthy parenting or relationships. Admittance is unfortunately simply a step in the cycle of violence and abuse and often does not have a lasting impact. Abusers will say "I'm sorry" and "I messed up" and buy themselves time from the victim until they resume their abusive behaviors and the victim is hurt all over again.
Conversely interpersonal skills, Insight and accountability, however are gained over a period of months and years, depending on the individual and the effectiveness of the treatment.
While awaiting sentencing, offenders will attend their treatment with the mentality that they only have to go through the motions for a short time to escape their consequences, so the commitment to change, developing insight and lasting behavior simply is not going to be present. Often the judge may then assess the abuser as truly penitent, leave them to attend their treatment on their own, give them a reduced sentence and once again the abuser manages to con a system without being forced to make any lasting changes. If the judge does require them to attend treatment, they may allow the treatment that was participated in (with a manipulative mentality) for the previous several-months/weeks to count as a part of their sentence. At this point the treatment has lost a lot of it's edge and the therapist has lost credibility and effectiveness to help the offender make lasting changes and ultimately help protect victims. The abuser returns eventually to their relationship or starts a new one without having made meaningful changes, and as we know the cycle of violence escalates over time, and the risk to the victim has increased.
Admitting offenders into treatment in this manner is going to have a negative impact on the other members of the group as well. They are now attending treatment that is supposedly about taking responsibility, gaining accountability and making personal change through insights gained; yet the therapist is taking money from people who they are now helping to escape consequences and to con the legal system, completely undermining the lessons of "treatment."
Under the current rules (as of the writing of this article) of the Idaho Council on Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance, once sentenced to treatment, abusers are not allowed to attend couples/conjoint counseling as a part of their treatment - it increases the risk to the victim because the victim will be sharing personal things that will be exploited by the abuser later, the therapist is seldom specifically trained in the treatment of power and control relationships and will often miss power and control tactics being used right in the middle of session and unwittingly endorse abusive behavior against the victim, and abusive behavior is not a shared problem as it is solely the responsibility of the abuser.
It is my opinion, that once charged with domestic violence or any abusive crime, treatment providers should not provide mandated-type treatment for that abusive behavior until after their sentence is given; or at the least, judges and juries should be prohibited from taking into consideration whether the abuser entered treatment before the sentencing in the formulation of the sentence, and any treatment received at that point should not count towards fulfilling their sentencing requirements.
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