From speech delivered at Domestic Violence Hui, Te Awataha Marae, Northcote, Auckland, 18 February 2009.

This article questions whether stopping violence programmes in New Zealand are value for money and whether they actually protect victims of domestic violence. The article describes how stopping violence programmes became part of domestic violence legislation, how such programmes receive approval, and the different types of programmes for perpetrators and adult and child victims. Drawing on published research, the paper examines what is known about the cost of programmes, the uptake, and how well they work. The authors find the cost is not small, that a significant proportion of perpetrators do not complete programmes, and that evaluations tend to overestimate the effectiveness of the programmes. The research indicates that knowledge of the context of violence is not properly utilised when directing people to programmes, and it would be useful to screen people to determine the nature and type of family violence in question. Similarly, the number of culturally appropriate programmes needs to be increased. The authors conclude that programmes are an important means of protecting victims of domestic violence. However there must be a commitment to requiring perpetrators to attend programmes and to offer good programmes to victims. It is important to know how productive the programmes are and to be more flexible about who should be required to attend what programme, and what further programmes might be appropriate.

New Zealand Family Law Journal 6(5) March 2009 : 119-125