BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Elaine K. Alquist, Chair S
2005-2006 Regular Session B
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SB 842 (Machado)
As Introduced February 22, 2005
Hearing date: April 5, 2005
Penal Code
AA:br
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE :
BATTERER'S TREATMENT PROGRAMS
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: AB 93X (Burton) - Ch. 28, Stats. 93-94, 1st
Ex. Sess.
AB 1886 (Lowenthal) - Ch. 544, Stats. 2000
AB 217 (Pavley) - Ch. 2, Stats. 2002
Support: Unknown
Opposition:None known
KEY ISSUES
SHOULD LOCAL GOVERNMENTS BE REQUIRED TO COLLECT AND REPORT TO THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL MONTHLY INFORMATION CONCERNING PERSONS ENROLLED IN
BATTERER'S TREATMENT PROGRAMS, AS SPECIFIED?
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SHOULD THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE BE REQUIRED TO COMPILE AND
REPORT THIS INFORMATION TO THE GOVERNOR AND THE LEGISLATURE
ANNUALLY, AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to 1)require local governments to
develop a system for recording, and to report to the Attorney
General on a monthly basis, the total number of persons
convicted of domestic violence who are ordered to attend, are
currently enrolled in, and have successfully completed,
batterer's treatment or intervention programs within its
jurisdiction; and 2) require the Attorney General to compile and
report this information annually to the Governor and the
Legislature, as specified.
Current law generally provides that, as a condition of any
grant of probation, any defendant who is convicted of a crime
against a spouse, cohabitant or former cohabitant, the partner
in a dating relationship or engagement, his or her child, or
the other parent of his or her child, must successfully
complete a "batterers' program" or equivalent counseling
program "for a period not less than one year with periodic
progress reports by the program to the court every three months
or less and weekly sessions of a minimum of two hours class
time duration. The defendant shall attend consecutive weekly
sessions, unless granted an excused absence for good cause by
the program for no more than three individual sessions during
the entire program, and shall complete the program within 18
months, unless, after a hearing, the court finds good cause to
modify the requirements of consecutive attendance or completion
within 18 months." (Penal Code 1203.097(a)(6).)
Current law requires batterer's treatment programs used by the
courts to follow specified standards, including "(p)rocedures
for submitting to the probation department all of the following
uniform written responses:
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(i) Proof of enrollment, to be submitted to the court and
the probation department and to include the fee determined
to be charged to the defendant, based upon the ability to
pay, for each session.
(ii) Periodic progress reports that include attendance, fee
payment history, and program compliance.
(iii) Final evaluation that includes the program's
evaluation of the defendant's progress, using (specified
criteria) . . . and recommendation for either successful or
unsuccessful termination or continuation in the program."
(Penal Code 1203.097(c)(1)(O).)
Current law also requires that courts are authorized to refer
persons to programs that have been approved by the probation
department, as specified. (Penal Code 1203.097(c)(1)(P).)
This bill would require every city, county, and city and county
to "develop a system for recording, and shall report to the
Attorney General on a monthly basis, the total number of persons
convicted of domestic violence who are ordered to attend, are
currently enrolled in, and have successfully completed,
batterer's treatment or intervention programs within its
jurisdiction."
This bill further would require the Attorney General to "report
annually to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public the
total number of persons convicted of domestic violence who are
ordered to attend, are currently enrolled in, and have
successfully completed, batterer's treatment or intervention
programs."
COMMENTS
1. Stated Need for This Bill
The author states in part:
SB 842 requires local cities and counties to
report, on a monthly basis, to the Attorney
General the number of persons who are ordered to
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enroll in, who have enrolled, and who have
completed a batterer intervention program. The
bill also requires the Attorney General to report
these numbers, on an annual basis, to the
Legislature.
. . .
. . . (T)here is conflicting research on the value
of these programs in meeting these goals. Some
studies suggest that batterer intervention
programs can reduce instances of violence and
controlling behavior for certain populations
("stake-in-conformity" populations, or those who
have a stake in remaining a part of society
through their employment or social status). Other
studies have demonstrated no change in recidivism
rates between control and experimental groups.
. . .
Unfortunately, even if these programs are
successful in affecting re-offense rates, not all
offenders complete the entire program as required
by law. According to testimony submitted by the
California Alliance Against Domestic Violence
(CAADV) to the Attorney General's Task Force on
Local Criminal Justice Response to Domestic
Violence, BIPs are not available in all counties
(despite the statutory requirement that offender
attend a BIP), and not all judges order batterers
to the full 52 weeks of treatment.
Survey responses submitted by CAADV also indicated
that those who are assigned to a BIP do not
complete the entire course . . .
A June 2003 review of California's Domestic
Violence laws by the California Senate Office of
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Research noted that, "better data collection is
also essential to ferret out how well this law is
working in California. Data on defendants
assigned to BIPs is kept at the local level, if it
is collected at all. California should consider a
way to collect more complete data on these
defendants."
SB 842 provides the State with observational data
on the individuals being assigned to, and
presumably enrolling and completing, these
intervention programs. This data will provide
policymakers with a better understanding of where
the existing system falls short. It will also
provide a foundation for improving compliance with
existing law, as well as future efforts to
identify successful program models and develop
more comprehensive approaches to fighting the
problem of domestic abuse.
2. What This Bill Would Do
As explained above, this bill would require every city, county,
and city and county to do the following:
develop a system for recording the total number of
persons convicted of domestic violence who are ordered to
attend, are currently enrolled in, and have successfully
completed, batterer's treatment or intervention programs
within its jurisdiction; and
report this information to the Attorney General on a
monthly basis.
This bill additionally would require the Attorney General to do
the following:
report annually to the Governor, the Legislature, and
the public the total number of persons convicted of
domestic violence who are ordered to attend, are currently
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enrolled in, and have successfully completed, batterer's
treatment or intervention programs.
3. Batterer Programs
As noted by the author, studies evaluating the effectiveness of
batterer intervention programs are regarded by many researchers
as inconclusive because of methodological problems.<1> "Among
the few considered methodologically sound, the majority have
found modest but statistically significant reductions in
recidivism among men participating in batterer
interventions."<2>
In May of 2000, the Judicial Council of California published,
"Domestic Violence Courts: A Descriptive Study," in which the
court surveyed judicial personnel, domestic violence advocates
and specialists working in batterer intervention programs to
present data describing domestic violence courts in California.
With respect to batterer's programs, the report states:
Survey respondents indicated that the batterer
intervention program provided the most important
resource for perpetrators. Many cited 52-week
programs as sufficient, and several suggested the
use of longer programs. Several perceive that
victims, as well as perpetrators, have benefited
when perpetrators are referred to batterer
intervention programs. Victims have reported that
they have witnessed changes in the batterer's
behavior and often attribute these changes to the
batterer's participation in the court-mandated
programs.
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<1> Batterer Programs: What Criminal Justice Agencies Need to
Know, Kerry Murphy Healey and Christine Smith (U.S. Department
of Justice, Office of Justice Programs; National Institute of
Justice (1998); web citation:
http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/171683.txt)
<2> Id.
In an annual data report published in 2000, Santa Clara County
reported that a "total of 2511 men and women enrolled in a 52
weeks batterer's intervention programs as of December 31, 1999.
About 987 of the clients completed a batterer's intervention
program. Of the total number of enrollment, 1957 clients are in
process as of December 31, 1999, and 920 clients terminated from
the program. The three major reasons for termination included
absences (614 cases), voluntary withdrawal (78 cases), and
violation of probation/other (75 cases)."<3>
WOULD THIS BILL LEAD TO THE COLLECTION OF DATA THAT WOULD
FURTHER INFORM POLICYMAKERS CONCERNING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
BATTERER'S TREATMENT PROGRAMS?
4. Background: Domestic Violence Statistics
The Attorney General's Office provides the following statistical
information about domestic violence in California:
In 2003, 182 murders were the result of intimate
partner violence in California.
In 2003, 151 women in California were killed by
their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends, and 27 men
were killed by their wives, ex-wives or girlfriends.
California law enforcement received 194,288
domestic violence calls in 2003 - 106,731 involved
weapons, including firearms and knives.
Domestic violence arrests dropped from 52,392
(2001) to 50,479 (2002), and to 48,854 in 2003.
Every year, almost 6% of California's women suffer
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<3> Web citation:
http://www.growing.com/nonviolent/council/pubs/datrep00/#bip.
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physical injuries from domestic violence.<4>
6. Technical Consideration
As explained above, current law courts are required to refer
persons subject to mandatory batterer's treatment to programs
that are approved by county probation departments. This bill
would apply to "every city, county and city and county." The
author may wish to consider amending this bill to exclude
cities, which generally do not provide probation services.
SHOULD THIS AMENDMENT BE MADE?
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<4> Domestic Violence in California (California Attorney
General's Crime and Violence Prevention Center)
( http://safestate.org) (citations omitted).