Levels of moral reasoning among female domestic violence offenders: Evaluating the impact of treatment

Objective: The purpose of this study was to: (a) investigate the level of moral reasoning of female batterers beginning court-mandated treatment, (b)investigate whether the current standardized treatment program was effective in altering the level of reasoning of female batterers, and (c) determine if there was an association between level of moral reasoning and recidivism at 2 years following treatment completion. Method., The study employed a nonequivalent control group design in examining the moral reasoning level of 91 women court ordered into a standard group treatment program for domestic violence offenders. Results: Analysis of the pretest data indicated that the entire sample of batterers was employing a level of moral reasoning two standard deviations lower than adults in general. Additionally, analysis of the posttest data demonstrated that there was no significant increase in moral reasoning at the conclusion of the treatment program, indicating that the current treatment program was ineffective in influencing moral reasoning, Women were monitored for a period of 2 years following treatment completion and a low positive correlation was found (r(Pb) = .32) between level of moral reasoning and rearrest, Conclusion: Implications of the findings for enhancing intervention efforts with court-ordered, female batterers were explored and discussed.