Promises of change: Envisioning new lives in partner abuse intervention programs

Abstract

How do interventions with violent offenders instill a desire for change? This article uses the case of partner abuse intervention to examine the discourses and subjectivities that emerge in intervention programs, as well as their potential impact on desistance from violence. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews conducted at two partner abuse intervention programs (N = 103), I find that through interventions, some participants build narratives of transformation that allow them to make sense of their violence, believe in their capacity for change, and start envisioning nonviolent lives. Bringing into dialogue literature on the carceral state, narrative criminology, desistance, and domestic violence, I examine the role that these narratives can play in the prevention of domestic violence. My findings reveal a fundamental paradox of partner abuse intervention: On the one hand, narratives of transformation can put program participants on the track toward desistance. On the other hand, these same narratives—which focus on avoiding dependency and achieving self-sufficiency—foster interventions that are fundamentally unequal and reinforce the gendered beliefs that support domestic violence. I discuss implications for violence prevention and understandings of the operations of the carceral state.