In early 2017, California Assembly Member Mark Stone introduced AB 372 to help advance domestic violence batterer intervention programs. The California State Association of Counties (CSAC) co-sponsored this legislation which ultimately allowed six counties (Napa, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and Yolo) to pilot alternative interventions, focusing on creating the opportunity for change to stop future incidents of domestic violence. CSAC, with the support of the Blue Shield of California Foundation, embarked on supporting these critical efforts as part of the CSAC Initiative on Improving Domestic Violence Programs and Systems. Several years in the making, CSAC has completed the initial phase of county collaboration and data synthesis to develop the Year 1 Legislative Report.

Counties have worked tirelessly – amid a national pandemic – to continue pushing this critical work forward to do better for the safety of Californians and the nation. Some key findings of the report, which focuses on program participants entering pilot county Domestic Violence programming from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, include:

• 89 percent of pilot program participants identified as male
• 38 percent were unemployed
• 51 percent had a prior domestic violence assault report to the police
• 33 percent were considered at high risk of committing future acts of Intimate Partner Violence

This initial report details the types of programming within the pilot counties, the structure of the programming, and includes a variety of discussions around the style and evidence-based nature of the approaches to assessments, program timeframes, and interventions. It also discusses the challenges and ongoing work needed to fully recognize the intent of the legislation in understanding output and outcomes based upon those modified programs. As the pilot program continues, future reports and briefs will focus on recidivism outcomes for pilot counties and informing counties and stakeholders on opportunities to improve domestic violence intervention programs.

Read the full report here.