Typologies, risk and recidivism in partner-violent men with the B-SAFER: a pilot study

Abstract

The research describes the criminal profile of 100 imprisoned partner-violent men (PVM) in Spain, and the follow-up for an average of 15 months of 40 released cases. The ability of the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER) to classify offenders according to typologies and to predict recidivism is analyzed. The results show that PVM have low level of specialization (only 45% limit their criminal activity to intimate partner violence (IPV)) and high level of recidivism (47% previously have been in prison, and 41% have prior arrest for IPV). The B-SAFER shows a high capacity to classify according to batterers typologies (accuracy of 79% with a score ≥13) in two groups: non-pathological and antisocial/pathological offenders. After prison release, 17.5% relapsed (15% in IPV), and 66% have done so within the first year. The B-SAFER had a predictive accuracy of 70% (sensitivity 100%). From antisocial/pathological group, 21% have recidivate compared to 12.5% in non-pathological aggressors, with an over-representation of antisocial/pathological subtype among recidivists (71%). The best predictive variables are the justification of violence, age at first imprisonment, and treatment. There is a 9% of recidivism among treated offenders compared to 50% in the untreated group.

Keywords:

• partner-violent men
• risk assessment
• recidivism
• typologies
• prison

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Center of Legal Studies and Specialized Training (Department of Justice, Government of Catalonia, Grant number SC-3.167.10), and the Government of the Basque Country (Research Staff Training Program, BFI-09.185). The author would like to acknowledge the management and staff of the Brians-2 prison, especially Lluis Fernández Berga, for the help and support given to the project. Special acknowledgment is due Mayalen Irureta and Ferran Domènech for their work in the research.