Zusammenfassung

Objectives The purpose of this article is to try to answer the question whether and how important are batterer intervention programs in formation of the attitudes and beliefs of perpetrators of domestic violence. Material and methods The data from surveys carried out in nine prisons in the Subcarpathian Voivodship were analyzed. As many as 277 men convicted for mistreatment of the family member were examined, including 133 perpetrators who completed batterer intervention programs (experimental group) and 144 convicts who did not take part in these types of interactions (control group). Results The statistical analysis of research results proved that convicts who took part in batterer intervention programs in prisons were significantly more often convinced than those who did not take part in them that such programs could be effective in preventing perpetrators from further harming family members. However, no differences were found between respondents when it comes to their declarations concerning further family behaviors, as well as the sense of responsibility for domestic violence. In contrast, weak statistically-significant differences were found only in the case of assessing one's own violent behaviors. All the more, perpetrators from the experimental group most often recognized only some of their behaviors (for which they were punished by the court) as acts of domestic violence, while respondents in the control group more often completely denied the use of violence. Conclusions These results demonstrate the relatively low effectiveness of batterer intervention programs in formation of the attitudes and beliefs of perpetrators of domestic violence.