[From Our Partners] An Evaluation of the Trauma-Informed Abusive Partner Intervention Program: Interim Results
Programs for people who cause harm to their intimate partners have existed since the 1970s. Although policies around and implementation of such programs vary from place to place, most traditional program models aim to make participants more accountable by educating them and teaching them skills for nonviolence.
In recent years, domestic violence (DV) experts have called for programs with traditional models to incorporate trauma-informed approaches that better consider participants’ trauma histories, needs, and experiences. One DV service organization in New York City, the Urban Resource Institute (URI), created a program that aims to incorporate such innovative practices. Through the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII), the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (DANY) funded the URI to plan and implement the Trauma-Informed Abusive Partner Intervention Program (TI-APIP) with guidance from ISLG. The TI-APIP curriculum is available to individuals charged with an intimate partner violence (IPV)–related crime through mandated weekly two-hour program sessions for 26 weeks.
The Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center was funded by DANY to conduct process and outcome evaluations. This brief provides high-level findings from the midpoint of Urban’s work and focuses on early findings from the process evaluation.