Background to this domestic abuse research
From 2018-2020, the Government funded the development of a range of innovative approaches for working with perpetrators of domestic abuse (DA) through the Police Transformation Fund. As part of this, money was allocated for research which sought to better understand perpetrators of DA, and strengthen the evidence base for ‘what works’ in addressing DA behaviour.
The following research was part of that – the Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Research Fund 20/21. Our area of research has been to identify who the perpetrators are, and specifically, the early warning signs and behaviours that may indicate someone is abusive, or at risk of becoming abusive in future.
Please note: The views reflected in this research are not necessarily those of the Home Office.
Rationale for the research:
Identifying perpetrators of DA is challenging. Most do not come into contact with the Criminal Justice System (CJS), and many will not have had the opportunity to be referred onto perpetrator programmes (Hester et al., 2006). As such, we don’t know all that much about them as a group. One of the most valuable ways we can learn about people’s lives, of course, is by asking them. However, research into perpetrators of DA is limited, and often focused on what is located outside of that individual. In particular, perpetrators’ evaluations and experiences of DA interventions. There is little looking at the broader life-course of the perpetrator. This is an important gap if we are to recognise the early warning signs of such behaviour, as well as identify who the active perpetrators are.
The following research project, therefore, explores the life stories of adult males who are known to the CJS as perpetrators of DA. It considers their early lives and how they explain their various pathways towards DA, including the stressors and challenges experienced in childhood, early factors that they felt drove and triggered their DA perpetration, and other factors which sustained and escalated such behaviour. In addition, the research also explores how the participants explain tackling their DA behaviour. The research then takes a critical position – specifically, a narrative perspective. Here, the research considers why and how such stories might be told, and what that might suggest about future behaviour. It concludes by considering how such knowledge might benefit DA policy and practice.
