Abstract
This article critically explores accounts of how men attending domestic violence perpetrator programs (DVPP) used the "time out" strategy. Findings are drawn from 71 semi-structured interviews with 44 men attending DVPPs and 27 female partners or ex-partners of men in DVPPs. We describe three ways in which the technique was used: first, as intended, to interrupt potential physical violence; second, through the effective adaption of the time-out rules by victim-survivors; and finally, misappropriation by some men to continue and extend their controlling behaviors. Policy and practice lessons are drawn from the findings through connecting broader and deeper measurements of what success means when working with domestic violence perpetrators to the ways in which the time-out technique was used.
Highlights
Despite the proliferation of domestic violence perpetrator programs (DVPPs) across the world, in criminal justice and non-criminal justice settings, hardly any research has examined how men use the strategies and techniques taught within the programs or how these are experienced by their partners or ex-partners
We first describe how this analysis fits within our wider program of research on British DVPPs, explain what a “time out” is and how its use is taught alongside a consideration of the brief literature on “time out.”
The actual use and misuse of time-out has been an under-researched area: these findings of men in DVPPs and women partners and ex-partners contribute to the knowledge base, with implications for policy and practice
Summary
Despite the proliferation of domestic violence perpetrator programs (DVPPs) across the world, in criminal justice and non-criminal justice settings, hardly any research has examined how men use the strategies and techniques taught within the programs or how these are experienced by their partners or ex-partners. P. Dobash, Dobash, Cavanagh, & Lewis, 1998; Dutton, 2006; Gondolf, 1999, 2002). Dobash, Cavanagh, & Lewis, 1998; Dutton, 2006; Gondolf, 1999, 2002) This neglects the more nuanced questions of program content and implementation. We first describe how this analysis fits within our wider program of research on British DVPPs (known as Project Mirabal), explain what a “time out” is and how its use is taught alongside a consideration of the brief literature on “time out.”. We first describe how this analysis fits within our wider program of research on British DVPPs (known as Project Mirabal), explain what a “time out” is and how its use is taught alongside a consideration of the brief literature on “time out.” We outline the data we draw on followed by analysis of how “time outs” were used by our sample
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