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Leslie Garcia

Professor Olivas

English 201

25 July 2017

Stopping the Domestic Abuse Cycle

In the short story Shattered and Beaten by Audrey Austin, the main character Alicia

tells her story about growing up with an abusive father. She explains that both of her parents

grew up in violent homes, but her father learned this abusive behavior from his mother.

Throughout the story she mentions that her father never abused her; he would only hit her mom

and leave her unconscious from time to time. As Alicia grew up, and her physical appearance

started to change into a young adolescent she started noticing her father looking at her in a

different way. Then came the long nights for Alicia, after her mother was left unconscious or she

would fall asleep her father would visit Alicia every night and molest her. Alicia didnt bother

telling her mother since she thought her mother had suffered more than enough. More nights

came until one night when her father forced himself inside Alicia, her mother had crept into her

room and stabbed her dad with a knife, and that was the end of it. Since domestic violence is a

controversial issue; the personal, intimate nature of domestic abuse makes it especially difficult

to detect. While this can happen in any relationship regardless of marital status, the community

should continue to offer programs that help abusers stop the cycle of domestic violence.

Research has shown in many ways how the community contributes to help abusers and families

stop domestic violence from happening again, so there can be less victims like Alicia and her

mother.
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Although domestic abuse usually takes place behind closed doors, it is the community

surrounding the violent households that should take control and offer help to families in need, by

helping the abusers get help. Having a strong coordinated community can help decrease domestic

abuse, and enhance the safety, health, wellbeing of abusers and victims (Russell 6). Just like

Alicias father in the story Shattered and Beaten, many domestic abusers were abused

themselves as children, or they grew up in households where domestic violence occurred. Family

violence can have devastating consequences on individuals, families, and the communities where

they live in. Community members play a crucial role in preventing family violence for many

reasons, such as most community members often know which families need help and which

services can make a difference (Fullwood 2). Since most victims call the cops and immediate

arrest is made for those abusers, which means once convicted for domestic violence, probation

officers contact community members in charge of a local program to a specific service. Also the

communities which include men, women, and youth understand the connection between violence

in the home and on the street, which they see family violence as a barrier to community

development and revitalization (Fullwood 2). This is why the Family Violence Prevention Fund

(FVPF) created a program to help abusers that also end up helping their families as well. The

goal of this program is to prevent or reduce family violence altogether, but the program

specifically mentioned, It is important to create a language and context for community

mobilization that includes and welcomes men by not identifying them as abusers simply

welcoming them to get help (Fullwood 4). Abusers once convicted for domestic violence

their parole officers immediately sign them up to a program in their local community, where they

are welcomed to get help. This simply means by offering this program to abusers it is a gateway

to start improving their lives to better themselves, and not repeat the domestic abuse cycle with
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their own family. Not only are the abusers helping themselves and their family, but they are also

giving back to the community where they live in by reducing violence. This is why the

community should continue to offer programs that helps abusers stop the domestic violence

cycle, which keeps the community and families safe altogether.

Another way the community can contribute in helping abusers stop the domestic violence

cycle, by using a different approach with a different program. In the article, Facing Down

Abusers written by marriage and family counselor Im Jung Kwuon she states, teaching

convicted batterers how to change their ways is a difficult, but rather memorable process

especially when seeing abusers finish my program and change the way they view domestic

abuse. This specific domestic violence prevention program is only offered to those abusers who

have been arrested and convicted of abusing their wives or children. When abusers start the

program they rarely admit to having beaten their partners or children (Kwuon 1). When they do

admit, most abusers say, She made me punch her (1). Kwuon suggests to the abusers to take a

timeout to cool off until the next class, and when they choose to cool off the abuser and family

are less likely to get hurt. The counselor of this program explains how recovery begins when

men can express anger without intimidating others, and when they can recount how often they

saw their mothers slapped, choked, or hit (1). Statistics have shown that male children who

witness abuse can grow up to abuse their girlfriends or wives (Russell 3). Since the community

offers this specific program to abusers that have been convicted, it has shown improvements in

about 90% of abusers attending this program, especially when the program gets feedback from

wives of the abusers (Kwuon 1). Kwuon had a joyful wife call a year after her husband finish the

class and said, We had a big fight and he didnt hit me. This shows that abusers benefit from

programs being offered by the community, where they learn to become safer intimate partners
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and fathers. By having convicted abusers join these programs it has an effect on them to better

themselves, this is why the community should continue to offer these programs so they can stop

the domestic abuse cycle.

However, many communities in cities all over the world are also offering programs that

help abusers stop the domestic violence cycle. Such as a case in the city of Baltimore, a man

named Darrick Moore had been arrested for hitting his wife. As part of his probation he had to

attend a twenty-two-week program that was being offered by the community of Baltimore

(Balestra 1). This certain program was quite unusual than any other programs being offered,

because every time an abuser would attend the program they would read a sign at the door,

which was a reminder of the message they were being taught that said, Battering is always a

choice (1). This program certainly affected abusers for the better, especially when the program

counselor saw how after months of the abusers attending; they saw domestic violence differently.

During the time Moore, the man who was convicted, attended this program he encountered a

man who shared his story and blamed his partner for his behavior, which Moore and others

shook their heads disapprovingly (3). The program counselor saw the effect that this man had on

other abusers in the support group, and had them do an activity where they would toss a ball and

whoever had the ball will tell the man how they had learned to own up to their abuse (4). Seante

Hatcher, the program counselor said, When one gets it, its like a ripple effect especially when

they hear it from their peers, they get it. This shows how each abuser who attended the program

slowly started changing their views on domestic violence. Especially when a new abuser joined

for the first time, the current abusers in the program instantly saw the problem of not admitting to

the real reason why they abuse (4). Although, there are many programs being offered all over the

world in different cities, this case shows how one program offered by the community changed
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the viewpoint of domestic violence in many abusers. Therefore, the community should continue

to offer programs that help abusers stop the domestic violence cycle, which can be used as a

ripple effect among abusers to change their lifestyles and viewpoints of domestic abuse.

On the other hand, some people might say that the community should offer more help to

victims instead of the abusers. Many battered-women advocates began womens shelters and

services to obtain a goal (Gondolf 4). Their goal was to help individual women directly and also

to reform the community, increase public awareness, and promote justice for women in the

courts (4). Ideally, they wanted the community to help victims so it can bring safety, peace,

equality, and appreciation for women. Most battered-women advocates try to work with a

community-based movement aimed at protecting women from their batterers and focus on efforts

to help women leave abusive relationships (Fullwood 1). If the community continued to help

abusers instead of victims, the community and battered-women advocates can work together in

helping abusers reach their goal of increasing public awareness to stop the domestic violence

cycle (Gondolf 4). Most battered-women advocates also believe that the batterer intervention

programs for abusers simply do not work since many abusers continue to abuse during these

programs. Furthermore, research has shown that communities help abusers more since they have

begun to recognize the importance of treating the batterers themselves in programs that are

offered (2). The vice president of the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence

Prevention, Toby Meyers said, No matter how many women you take in, it isnt going to cure

the problem, its the batterer intervention programs that serve a critical need. He also states, that

the batterer prevention programs make sure that batterers comply with their sentencing and dont

repeat their abuse (2). This means that the community should continue to offer programs that

help abusers instead of the victims, since many abusers after they end the program view
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domestic violence differently and stop the cycle altogether.

In addition, do the batterer programs offered by the community for abusers work? The

answer is Yes. Studies and research have been done to prove how these programs change the

views of abusers (Gondolf 1). The court assigns abusers convicted of domestic violence to

batterer intervention programs that are being offered in their local community (1). The goals of

many of these intervention programs, is to change the abusers viewpoint of domestic abuse and

stop the cycle altogether. Statistics have shown that men who were arrested and enrolled in

batterer programs appeared to be affected by the intervention (1). Research shows that at 2

years after program intake, more than 80% of the men had not assaulted their female partners in

the previous year, and at four years after program intake, more than 90% had not been violent for

at least a full year (2). Different forms of abuse such as, controlling behavior, verbal abuse, and

threats have also showed a decline over time (2). In fact, most women felt very safe, and

believed it was very unlikely that their partners would hit them again. Given this research it

clearly shows the effect that these batterer intervention programs have made on abusers and also

to battered women. To add, these programs do appear to be making a difference for abusers, by

changing their lifestyle. So do the batterer intervention programs offered by the community

work? Yes they do, therefore, the community should continue to offer these programs that help

abusers drastically change their lifestyles for the better, keeping women and children safe, and

stopping the domestic violence cycle.

To sum up, the intimate nature of domestic violence makes it especially difficult to

detect, while this usually happens behind closed doors and in any relationship regardless of

marital status. The community should continue to offer programs that help abusers stop the

domestic violence cycle. Just like Alicias dad in the story Shattered and Beaten, many
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domestic abusers were abused themselves as children, or they grew up in households where

domestic violence occurred. Statistics even proved how the batterer intervention programs

helped abusers change their views about domestic abuse and lifestyle. Therefore, since the

programs being offered by the communities are affecting abusers in a drastic way; they should

continue to offer these programs so the domestic violence cycle wont be repeated again.