Mandatory court review and batterer program compliance

dA naturalistic pre-experiment/postexperimenr was conducted to examine the impact of periodic court review on compliance to 12 weeks of court-referred batterer counseling. To determine compliance, court dockets and clinical r ecords,were revieved for the year prior to implementation, immediately afte r implementation, and 2 years after implementation. Background questionnair es were administered to test for any changes in case characteristics (n = 3 21), and court procedures were observed to identify external influences on compliance. Compliance to program intake increased from 64% of those who we re referred by the court in 1994 to 94% in 1997 Program completion by those who appeared for program intake remained approximately 70%. The percentage of court referrals that completed the program rose from 48% in 1994 to 65% in 1997 The findings suggest the utility of court review with pretrial ref errals in improving compliance and the importance of considering court proc edures in assessing program outcomes.