“If they can’t acknowledge what they’ve done, they can’t be successful in the program.” Kellie Addison, Women’s Shelter of South TexasSome men think violence against their partners is normal because it was all they saw as they grew up. “Men have said to me ‘I always saw my dad beat my mom and my uncle beat up his wife and I thought everybody did that,’” Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka said.
Domestic violence crosses all races, genders and socio-economic groups. The cycle of violence can start with an argument and escalate quickly from there, sometimes ending in death, Skurka said. According to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics, women made up 84 percent of spousal abuse victims in 2002, the last year for which statistics are available. About seventy five percent of perpetrators were male, according to the DOJ.
But there is help for those who batter. It is a special, voluntary 24-week program for male and female offenders at the Women’s Shelter of South Texas, known as the Battering Intervention and Prevention Program. The treatment program takes clients from the 12-county area the shelter covers, including Nueces County, said Kellie Addison, development director at the shelter.
The Nueces County District Attorney’s Office sends batterers to counseling, drug treatment and to the battering intervention and prevention program at the women’s shelter as a part of court-ordered treatment, Skurka said.
The classes in Nueces County take place at the Women’s Shelter of South Texas’ administrative offices, not at the shelter facility, which is at an undisclosed location for client safety. The shelter has two other locations. In Kingsville, classes are held in a room inside the police department and in Beeville, classes are held in the Bee County Sheriff’s Office.
The classes, which include paying a weekly fee ranging from $10 to $30, meet once a week for two-hours and focus on accountability, Addison said. The classes cover topics such as sexual violence, children and how the offenders got to the point of hurting their partners. Four hundred and ninety men have been referred to the program, usually as part of a court order as a condition of parole, and 408 have completed it.
While the top referral source for male offenders to the program is the Nueces County probation department, attorneys or judges also refer participants as a part of their parole conditions as does Child Protective Services, as part of pre-trial proceedings.
Not all who are referred are candidates for the program. In some cases, the abuser has an alcohol or drug issue, which must be addressed before work begins on anger management, Addison said. Also, some abusers are not willing to admit there is a problem and accept accountability.
“If they can’t acknowledge what they’ve done, they can’t be successful in the program,” Addison said.
The men who are accepted into the program for treatment are receptive and learn a lot from each other while sharing their stories, she said. Comments from the written evaluations done at the end of the program show those who abused, feel they have successfully found an alternative way to handle anger.
“I learned that when I am in an argument about something, I need to ask my partner if we can discuss it calmly and in a safe manner, ” one wrote.
“Listening to the other fathers and husbands in the group helped me see what red flags I need to look for with my wife and kids,” said another.
Women who have been abused are notified when the offenders attend these classes.
Female offenders are counseled in separate groups in a program called Turning Points. Either Child Protective Services or the Nueces adult probation refer the women.
“The women who participate in the Turning Points Program do attend classes at our shelter facility, however their violence has been found to be in retaliation or self defense of violence being perpetrated in the intimate partner relationship,” Addison said.
In 2014, approximately 30 women participated in the Turning Points program. Currently, there are 10 women participating in this program.