Community providers boycott pilot of new Corrections programme
Wed 02 Jul 2014
Most community providers are boycotting the pilot of the new programme for domestic violence offenders developed by the Department of Corrections. In ...
Most community providers are boycotting the pilot of the new programme for domestic violence offenders developed by the Department of Corrections.
In a letter to Police Minister Anne Tolley and Justice Minister Judith Collins, National Network of Stopping Violence Services (NNSVS) co-chairwoman Shell Brown said the programme undermines years of work by programme providers and "significantly increases the potential for harm to already vulnerable women and children."
Concerns raised by NNSVS and programme providers who spoke to the media include:
- A 'one-size-fits all' approach
- A lack of gender and cultural analysis
- An increase in providers' workload but decrease in resources
- The programme not being long enough
- The programme not having enough consultation with victims.
NNSVS also raised concerns about a "doubling up" of work due to a lack of communication between the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Justice. Both are currently making significant changes to the ways they contract community providers to run programmes.
Rethinking Crime and Punishment spokesperson Kim Workman said the announcement that providers were boycotting the programme came as "no surprise." He said,
"There is a growing concern that Corrections is seeking to introduce a medical therapeutic model which depends on delivery from trained clinicians, will 'burn off' the experience, good will and commitment of not for profit organisations. This has already happened with the 'Out of Gate' prisoner reintegration services, with contracts going to private corporates and groups like Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation going to the wall. With that goes decades of community engagement, grass roots experience, intricate networking, and collaborative problem solving."
NNSVS wrote to Ministers Tolley and Collins, "We strongly recommended you reconsider the Corrections programme and look at evaluating existing programmes that have been developed and delivered by family violence intervention specialists."
In response to the concerns, Corrections put the tender process on hold "for a few days" but are continuing with the pilot.
Anne Tolley and Corrections spokesperson Ben Clark said a more results-based focus, more measurement of effectiveness and higher completion rates were needed.
Ben Clark said, "This pilot will give us the opportunity to test different delivery approaches for offenders. The pilot will explore how to best respond to the needs of the individual and how to increase completion rates, which historically have been around the 50 percent mark ... We feel that we can do better."
Update:
Waikato University psychologist Dr Neville Robertson has criticised the new programm, saying it was "theoretically flawed, misconstrues the issues, and will give some comfort to controlling men who wish to protect their privileged position within the family."
"What characterises a domestic violence offender above all else is a set of beliefs that he is entitled to the domestic and sexual services of his partner, entitled to control her life, entitled to her absolute obedience, entitled to not have her show him up in public," he said.
"Unless [these beliefs] are confronted, all the programme will do is turn out better educated abusers."
Media:
Claim campaign 'dangerous' to women, NZ Herald, 04.07.2014
Plan is doomed to fail, Tolley is warned, Dominion Post, 04.06.2014
Image: iStock