PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Stewart

Telephone: 513-479-3335

Email: info@EndToDV.org

Domestic Violence Practitioners Need to Base Programs on Verifiable Science, and Discard Unproven Ideological Philosophies

WASHINGTON / October 6, 2020 – In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Coalition to End Domestic Violence is calling on practitioners to assure that domestic violence services and counseling methods are based on credible scientific research, not ideological theories. For years, domestic violence programs have relied on the unproven “power and control” model, which posits persons’ need for interpersonal dominance as the primary or sole cause of domestic violence.

The “power and control” concept undergirds the widely used Duluth treatment model, including its nationally disseminated Power and Control Wheel (1). Critics have argued that Duluth Model programs “ignore research linking domestic violence to substance abuse and psychological problems, such as attachment disorders, traced to childhood abuse or neglect, or the absence of a history of adequate socialization and training.” (2)

The “power and control” model has been disproven by domestic violence researchers. A meta-analysis of 94 studies by Dr. Sandra Smith found the following factors had a strong connection to the initiation of physical domestic violence: marital satisfaction, illicit drug use, emotional abuse, forcing a partner to have sex, and attitudes condoning violence (3).

Factors found by Stith to have a medium relation with domestic violence initiation were traditional sex-role ideology, anger/hostility, alcohol abuse, and depression. Abusers’ need for “power and control” was not identified as a causal factor.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, each year there are 4.2 million male victims of domestic violence, compared to 3.5 million female victims (4). Researcher Murray Straus noted, “the past 25 years has seen a systematic denial of evidence about perpetration of PV [partner violence] by women. This denial is troublesome for social scientists because it threatens the integrity of science, and for practitioners because it threatens the effectiveness of prevention and treatment efforts.” (5)

As a result of over-reliance on the “power and control” concept, domestic violence programs have been found to lack effectiveness (6):

  • “Between 2000 and 2010, rates of domestic violence actually fell less than the drop in the overall crime rate – at a time when VAWA was pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the criminal system.” — Leigh Goodmark, Professor, University of Maryland Law School
  • “There is limited empirical support for the assumption that mandatory arrest and prosecution policies in domestic violence cases have the intended effect of reducing violence against women.” — Linda G. Mills, Professor of Social Work, Public Policy, and Law, New York University
  • “We have no evidence to date that VAWA has led to a decrease in the overall levels of violence against women.” — Angela Moore Parmley, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Citations:

  1. https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wheels/
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20191214221023/https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/cornwall/en/report/research_papers/Party_RP/4_Men_and_Healing-Dec_24_2008.pdf
  3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1359178903000557
  4. National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2015 Data Brief – Updated Release. 2018. Tables 9 and 11.
  5. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-03449-011
  6. https://endtodv.org/fresh-start/lack-of-effectiveness/