Social Information Processing, Program Completion, and Recidivism: One Court's Referrals to a Batterer Intervention Program

This study sought to further contribute to the literature and enhance understandingregarding men referred to, and participate in batterer intervention programs, particularly in relation to the participants' program completion and recidivism. The sample included 184 men charged with a domestic violence related crime in one county court in Lincoln,Nebraska then referred to a batterer intervention program by the judge. Information regarding the demographics and criminal histories of the subjects was collected to provide an understanding of this population of men, and explore relationships between these variables and the dependent variables of program completion and recidivism. Additionally, this study sought to pilot a modified version of a coding instrument that allows for application of the Social Information Processing Model to archival data related to referral incidents.

The sample's demographic information is consistent with previous studies, with a mean age of 31.2 years old, as well as most participants being single, employed, and having a high school education. The program completion rate and recidivism rate at a nine-month follow-up period are also consistent with previous studies, with 55.4% of the men completing the program, and 14.1% of the men recidivating. The piloting of a modified version of the Violent Incident Coding Sheet did not yield any significant results. However, logistic regression models with predictive value were identified, with the model related to program completion accounting for 11.3% of the variance in the dependent variable and allowing for accurate prediction 60.3% of the time while the model related to recidivism accounting for 37.2% of the variance and allowing for accurate prediction 87.4% of the time. The results of this study support further exploration of the characteristics that contribute to program completion and recidivism, as well as the need to develop sensitive measures able to assess characteristics of violence perpetrated by batterers. The relationship between program completion and recidivism in this one courtroom sample provides limited support for the continued use of batterer intervention.