Jackson Free Press

This week, the Center for Violence Prevention will announce a new paradigm for curbing domestic violence in the Jackson area, bringing the Duluth Model to the metropolitan area. Batterer's intervention programs, or BIPs, are a big part of what's coming.

The annual Jackson Free Press Chick Ball has raised funds for the center since 2004. Each year, Jacksonians have been more generous in their contributions. Last year, Chick Ball proceeds bought a minivan, providing reliable transportation to women and children in need. In 2008, like the previous three years, the focus was on helping abuse victims.

But domestic violence has two components—the abused and the abuser. Only providing assistance to victims is solving only half the equation, and as math scholars will tell you, that's not solving the problem at all.

Any effective program must protect victims from continued abuse. But within that broad goal, the Duluth Model involves the entire community in solving the domestic-abuse problem, including the justice system (police, lawyers and judges) and the social system (shelters, hotlines, clinics, etc.) in formulating the solution. Abusers must change their behavior, and that's where batterer's intervention programs come in.

BIPs, unlike therapy or anger management, confront abusers with their fundamental beliefs. "I'm a man, that's why," is a common refrain from men who dominate and control their partners. It's called male privilege, and it is just one of the many unexamined beliefs batterers hold that allows them to beat the crap out of their women when they "misbehave," or withhold money to ensure every penny is spent the "right" way, or curse their children by telling them they're stupid. By making abusers aware of the cost of those beliefs, BIPs encourage taking responsibility and changing their behavior.

We applaud the Center for Violence Prevention for having the vision to bring the Duluth Model to the Jackson metro, but making it work will take funding and dedication. Buying tickets for the JFP Chick Ball will help. The dedication must come from the community, and that will take some changes, too. Police must be willing to take a hard line with abusers; district attorneys must be ready to prosecute instead of cutting deals; and judges must be willing to put abusers into a BIP or put offenders unable to change behind bars.

With our combined dedication behind it, the Duluth Model can make an impact on domestic violence in Jackson. For all of us, we must take a stand: Be unwilling to accept the abuse status quo.