Addressing Domestic Violence in the African American Community

Publication Summary

This paper focuses on the problem of spouse abuse in the African American community and discusses intervention programs designed to reduce domestic violence. The problem of domestic violence is not new. However, there is increased concern about it, such that the criminal justice system has changed its policy toward this act. This policy considers domestic violence a crime, and arrest the most efficient way to prevent it. Further, providing counseling programs to men is one of the efforts some criminal justice departments are now using. The two programs discussed in this paper are programs used by the criminal justice system. They are designed to prevent repeated domestic violence by focusing on the education of conflict resolution to deal with anger, denial, and jealousy, and the development of interpersonal skills that assist in channeling anger and poor interpersonal communication into positive modes of conduct. Some characteristics of batterers are noted.