Building Better Relationships? Interrogating the ‘Black Box’ of a Statutory Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programme: Summary of Thesis and Key Findings Report
Renehan (2021)
Content Warning: Domestic Violence and Abuse
This report explores a study on the Build Better Relationships (BBR). BBR is an accredited programme by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service for heterosexual men in England and Wales who have been convicted of a domestic abuse related offence. This work is the first to evaluate it since it started in 2013. The aim of the research was to explore what domestically violent men need to help them to build and sustain better, more egalitarian and non-abusive/violent relationships. In-depth interviews were conducted with abusive men mandated to attend BBR and BBR practitioners. The study found that BBR was not responsive to a diverse population and did not of necessity redress the perpetrators’ reasons for violence. There was little reflection on complex needs, personal and emotional vulnerabilities and neurodiverse barriers faced by many of the men. Domestically violent men need more responsive interventions engaging with the emotion and gendered expectations implicated in domestic abuse; and the neurodivergent needs. This report shows the limitations of domestic violence perpetrator programmes as the primary response to men’s violence against women without engaging with gender relations or masculinities.
