8.7.2 Challenging the Program

Louisiana’s statute adopts standards associated with what is known as the “Duluth” model of batterer intervention.1  While the Duluth model is the most universally accepted among a variety of potential models for batterer intervention, studies show that it is imperfect and often ineffective.2  Research on the effectiveness of batterer intervention programs is controversial and sometimes conflicting.3  In recent years, many alternative models have emerged, including models that seem to have successfully incorporated principles of restorative justice.4  But the research on these emerging models is similarly controversial. For these reasons, lawyers should be prepared to address the unrealistic expectations clients sometimes have about the effectiveness of the batterer intervention their former partners are ordered to participate in. Clients are often overly optimistic about the prospects of behavioral change.

Before changes to the law in 2014, treatment program requirements were more ambiguous, and some courts accepted “anger management” classes as a substitute for batterer intervention. Lawyers should still be prepared to aggressively challenge whether a treatment program meets the statutory requirements. Many abusive former partners or their attorneys still attempt to obtain unsupervised visits by producing documents showing participation in “anger management” counseling or printable “certificates” showing completion of an on-line course. These documents should be excluded as unauthenticated hearsay. Even if admissible, they fail to satisfy the statutory requirements.5

As explained by the dissenting opinion in DOH v. TLH, which was decided before the 2014 changes, anger management programs do not provide meaningful rehabilitation for batterers.6  Anger management is not a course of therapy specifically designed for perpetrators of domestic violence, and it is not recognized as such by experts in domestic violence. If a therapist conflates the two types of therapies, that fact alone suggests that he or she is untrained in domestic violence. Moreover, many experts believe that anger management programs increase danger to victims. The United States Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, which funds domestic violence programs nationwide, asserts that the practice of substituting anger management for batterer intervention compromises victim safety and allows perpetrators to escape responsibility.7

• 1What is the Duluth Model?, Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs.
• 2Amie Zarling & Dan Russel, A Randomized Clinical Trial of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and the Duluth Model Classes for Men Court-Mandated to a Domestic Violence Program, 90 J. Consulting & Clinical Psychology 326, 327 (2022); L.G. Mills, et al., The Next Generation of Court-Mandated Domestic Violence Treatment: A Comparison Study of Batterer Intervention and Restorative Justice Programs, 9 J. Experimental Criminology 65, 68 (2013).
• 3Shih-Ying Cheng, et al. Compared to What? A Meta-Analysis of Batterer Intervention Studies Using Nontreated Controls or Comparison, 22 Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 427, 497, 505 (2021).
• 4Mills, et al., Next Generation, supra, at 69.
• 5On the statutory requirements for these programs, see Section 8.7.
• 6D.O.H. v. T.L.H., 01-174 (La. App. 3 Cir. 10/31/01), 799 So. 2d 714, 722–32 (Woodard, J., dissenting).
• 7See Off. of Violence Against Women, U.S. Dep’t of Just., FY 2023 Solicitation Companion Guide: OWW Grant Programs & Post-Award Information.