Abstract
Research QuestionCan integrated case management by a multi-agency partnership of the relations between offenders and victims with repeated incidents of intimate partner violence (IPV) reduce the frequency or severity of harm from that violence?DataThree batches of 60 IPV dyads were enrolled in a trial, with data collected on services delivered to them and police records for 2 years before and 2 years after random assignment to treatment and control groups.MethodsThe study measured the delivery of all three elements of treatment offered: (1) victim support through Berkshire Women’s Aid, (2) one-to-one perpetrator counselling through motivational interviewing techniques and (3) follow-up visits to the home addresses of perpetrators and victims. The outcomes for each couple in severity of harm were compared in a before-after, difference-of-differences analysis of Cambridge Crime Harm Index scores. After-only frequency of non-criminal domestic conflict events was also compared.FindingsDelivery of programme elements was highly variable, but more intense in the treatment group than in control, especially in terms of police visits to offenders (T = 60%, C = zero). Mean difference between 24 months of post-random assignment and the 24 months baseline period for C cases was an increase of 4.15 Cambridge Crime Harm Index (CHI) prison days, while T cases had a mean change of 8.85 fewer CHI days in prison in post-assignment than in baseline. This difference was significant with outliers removed, but not with two control group baseline cases included. There was also a substantially higher rate of frequency of non-crime events in the 24 months after random assignment in T (112) than in C (85).ConclusionsThe overall effect of the programme appeared to have been beneficial, as measured by the Crime Harm Index. The evidence cannot specify how much of that benefit was caused by the more consistent police visits to offenders versus other elements of the programme for both victims and offenders.
Highlights
Since the advent of randomized controlled trials in policing domestic violence (Sherman and Berk 1984), few studies have found reductions in repeat intimate partner violence (IPV) (Sherman et al 1992)
The evidence cannot specify how much of that benefit was caused by the more consistent police visits to offenders versus other elements of the programme for both victims and offenders
There were three elements of treatments offered in the experiment, consisting of increased support to victims, one-to-one counselling sessions for perpetrators and follow-up police and practitioner visits to the home address of the victim and perpetrator. These were supplied to some of those in the control group. This occurred due to the multi-agency processes that work in parallel to the Domestic Abuse Service Coordination (DASC) such as child protection and the fact that the partner agencies involved in the DASC group were blinded to the identity of the control group dyads
Summary
Since the advent of randomized controlled trials in policing domestic violence (Sherman and Berk 1984), few studies have found reductions in repeat intimate partner violence (IPV) (Sherman et al 1992). The greater statistical power of a higher base rate, if nothing else, may make a positive impact discernible and possibly even more cost-effective. It is an important advance in testing domestic abuse programmes to report this first randomized control trial (RCT) of police responses targeted on repeat-case IPV couples. This study reports the RCT, in which the police response was a randomly assigned engagement with a multi-agency partnership, providing an array of services to both victims and offenders These services were designed to be selected on a customized basis for each couple, depending on their particular victim vulnerabilities or criminogenic needs. While that customisation creates a challenge for impact evaluation, it is useful to reflect a prevailing view in operational practice that a customized response has a better chance of success than a one-size-fits-all approach
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