In January of 1999, a group of eleven state-certified batterer intervention programs and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health formed a partnership in order to investigate the relationship between adolescent male violence towards females and demographic and situational factors in the perpetrators' lives. A 121-item data collection tool was developed in conjunction with the practitioners. Preliminary analysis revealed that a high proportion of the adolescent males referred to intervention were parents. In addition, a higher than expected proportion of the intervention population admitted to forcing sexual contact on dating partners. The most recent data analysis shows that a significant proportion of adolescent males who perpetrate violence against females may also have attempted suicide one or multiple times during their lives and may have access to firearms. This session will describe the population currently attending intervention groups for boys who batter in Massachusetts and the intervention itself. The presentation will include descriptive analyses of client population demographics including drug/alcohol use, criminal justice involvement, level of education, victim-offender relationship, receipt of collateral services, parental and marital status, suicidality, lethality and access to weapons. Analyses will be based on intake data from the eleven programs currently certified to conduct intervention with adolescent perpetrators of dating and domestic violence in Massachusetts (n=120).
Learning Objectives: Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to: 1. Describe adolescent male perpetrators of dating/domestic violence 2. Discuss the impact and limitations of intervention with adolescent male perpetrators of dating/domestic violence 3. Assess community response to adolescent males who batter
Keywords: Adolescents, Youth Violence
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.