EFFECTS OF UNSCREENED SPOUSE VIOLENCE ON MEDIATED AGREEMENTS

A sample of 149 couples was assessed for spouse violence prior to fami ly court mediation. Standard mediation was conducted without the parti cipants or mediators knowing who was classified as violent or nonviole nt. The 65 couples who reached full agreement were grouped according t o whether they had ever had a violent dispute during the relationship. Violent couples who reached agreements chose terms granting wives sig nificantly move power in terms of control over custody and visitation than the nonviolent couples chose. This suggests that wives of violent husbands were empowered sufficiently during standard mediation to neg otiate somewhat more powerfirl, safer terms for themselves than was ne cessary for wives of nonviolent husbands. Nevertheless, 57% of all agr eements between violent couples specified a form of shared custody, wh ich is thought to promote too much future contact between the violent ex-spouses. This tendency for violent spouses to choose shared custody is interpreted to mean that wives need violence screening and special protective intervention measures to successfully negotiate safer, mor e restrictive sole custody agreements.