Audit Shows California’s Domestic Violence Program Failing
Sacramento, CA – The California Auditor points to gaping failures in the state’s domestic violence program that did little to curb offenders’ actions.
The audit found nearly half of the state’s domestic violence offenders failed to complete a required program designed to prevent future assaults and that judges failed to impose new sanctions almost every time, according to the state auditor.
“The requirement had limited impact in reducing domestic violence,” Acting California State Auditor Michael Tilden said, citing what auditors called long-running “systemic failures.”
California requires domestic violence offenders who are placed on probation to take year-long batterer intervention classes that include weekly two-hour classes with group discussions and ways to hold offenders accountable for the violence they bring to a relationship. But auditors found that nearly half did not complete them. Additionally, county probation departments did not report more than half the violations to the courts, which also did not impose any additional punishment to enforce the requirement in 90% of the cases where judges were told of the violations.
Last year, a state watchdog agency estimated that a third of women and a quarter of men in California will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime, prompting the audit. However, the programs can be effective, as auditors found in tracking a sample of 100 offenders: Nearly two-thirds of program dropouts went on to commit new domestic violence or other abuse-related crimes. By contrast, 20% of offenders who completed the program committed new crimes.
Auditors reviewed the programs in just five of California’s 58 counties, including the Bay Area and San Joaquin County. They recommended that lawmakers have the state Department of Justice oversee the program statewide. They say that would allow for the tracking of domestic violence data, create standards for the programs and oversee providers, and make sure offenders are adequately supervised. Several states have a central agency overseeing their program providers, noted California’s auditor. Those include Kansas, Massachusetts, Texas, and Washington.
