Tiltai

The authors analyse the empowerment of domestic violence abusers from the perspective of an intervention programme. They present the phenomenon of domestic violence in the context of complex legal assistance to a family experiencing violence, and theoretical and practical approaches to the application of behaviour-changing programmes. At the moment, the legal acts regulating the provision of such assistance in Lithuania are mainly aimed at ensuring assistance to people who have experienced violence, but the system of providing services to people subjected to violent behaviour is not established. In Lithuania, the Intervention Programme for Domestic Abusers has been approved for changing violent behaviour in the family. The programme is purposefully structured: it improves the skills of recognition of violent behaviour in the family environment by providing information on forms of violence and an analysis of violent situations, and modelling non-violent behaviour in the family. The experts who prepared the programme noted that the most important elements for its effectiveness are group work, long-term participation in the programme, the motivation of the programme leaders, and the ability to empower the individual to change his or her behaviour. The extension of the programme to institutions providing comprehensive family support services can be predictive of the effectiveness of domestic violence prevention.

The article analyses the dynamics of domestic violence in the city of Klaipėda during the period from 2010 to 2020. The analysis of reported cases of violence is intended to reveal the functioning reality of the Republic of Lithuania’s Law on Protection against Domestic Violence (LPADV) adopted in 2011, and to evaluate the fact that violence, as a conditionally marginalised phenomenon for a long time, is raised to the level of an actual social problem. In evaluating the dynamics of this phenomenon over the ten-year period, the authors reject the hypothesis that cultural traditions of violence have changed over the years. During the period analysed, domestic violence has established itself as one of the most widespread violent crimes in Lithuania, overshadowing other forms of violence. The article introduces four indicators of sociological assessment, which consist of the abuser’s family situation, gender, recurrent criminality, and associations between age cohorts, in a focused manner, which reveals the social effects of the adoption of the law, demonstrating ‘the disclosure’ of the known but deliberately ‘overlooked’ reality by the LPADV. The analysis of segments of violence presented in the article suggests the development of specific measures for the prevention of domestic violence and programme strategies, because not only is the legal regulation of domestic violence significant, but so is the identification of target groups that go beyond popular stereotypes of this phenomenon.

The article adresses the problem of social work support to domestically violent males. The causes of violence and the process of help and resocialization are discussed. The research results reveal that domestically violent males receive informational, legal, psychological and social help, however, the component of social-psychological help is underdeveloped, lack of involvement of social workers is felt. Possibilities of social work support are underutilized, social workers rarely participate in the whole of support process. Usually the role of social worker is carried out by probation officers.