Perpetrator programmes are part of a wider strategy for preventing domestic and sexual violence, through fostering change as well as ensuring responsible risk assessment and management. Perpetrator programmes offered as part of the prison and probation system can pose a number of specific challenges – these may be related to the particular setting they are delivered in, to multi-agency work, or victim support. The conference explored these challenges and provide space for discussions on how to ensure that interventions are as effective and safe as possible. An important factor in this is strengthening cooperation between prison or probation services and community-based organisations where these deliver perpetrator programmes on behalf of the criminal justice system.

The first conference day was dedicated to perpetrator work in the probation context, while the second day examined the chances and challenges of perpetrator programmes in prisons.

Follow this link to see all recordings from our COVID-19 Mini Conference

Download the slides here

The Facilitator

Daliah Vakili has an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from the School of Oriental and African studies (SOAS, University of London). She has been working in the humanitarian field as a Gender Empowerment, Equality & Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) advisor, specialized on refugee assistance in Lesvos as well as Sahel and MENA region. She is experienced in working with SGBV and human trafficking victims under heavy environments and uses an intersectional approach in her work where she aims for justice and equality for all.

The Webinar

The webinar explored the following questions:

• How can we address gender equality within migrant populations without risk of cultural stigmatization and marginalization?
• How can we engage religious leaders and create community leaders?
• What are appropriate training methods facilitators need when working with the migrant and refugee populations?
• How can we implement community-based perpetrator interventions?

Furthermore, participants gained insights on culturally appropriate methods when working within migrant and refugee populations and challenged their own biases in anti-racism reflections.

Download the webinar slides here

The Facilitator

Leonie Maria Tanczer is Lecturer in International Security and Emerging Technologies at University College London (UCL). Her research focuses on questions related to internet security and she is specifically interested in the intersections of technology, security and gender. She is Principal Investigator of the "Gender and IoT" (#GIoT) pilot study which examines the implications of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies on victims of gender-based domestic violence and abuse.

The Webinar

What is the Internet of Things (IoT)? What does it have to do with gender-based domestic violence? How are violent men abusing new technologies to control and abuse their (ex-)partners?

In recent years, forms of online harassment and technology-facilitated sexual abuse have emerged. This violence ranges from cyber stalking to online behavioural control. While many efforts are concerned with ‘conventional’ cyber violence, such as abuse via social media or stalking via laptops and phones, “Internet of Things” (IoT) technologies such as ‘smart’ home devices, locks, and cameras increase the risk for survivors of domestic violence.

In the webinar, participants learned about

1. Findings from the “Gender and IoT” (#GIoT) research project
2. Guidance for support services that engage and help victims and survivors (see: guide and resource list) and how this could be integrated into work with violent men
3. Latest technological trends putting victims and survivors at risk

Download the slides here

Download the manual here

The Facilitators

Alessandra Pauncz is the Executive Director of the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence. She earned her PhD at the University of Rome and has been working in the field of domestic violence for over 20 years. Alessandra has advocated and worked for victims of domestic violence in a variety of positions on national and European levels. She also founded and ran the first perpetrator programme in Italy (CAM) and set up the Italian network for perpetrator work (Relive).

Letizia Baroncelli is a Psychologist and Board Member of CAM, the first perpetrator programme in Italy. At CAM Florence, she is responsible for partner contact of the men in the programme, as well as training, awareness-raising campaigns and prevention activities with youth. Additionally, she is the contact person for evaluating the effectiveness of the CAM perpetrator programme through the IMPACT Toolkit.

The Workshop

What is the role of perpetrator programmes in fighting cyber violence? Is the controlling behaviour behind cyber violence a new form of violence? Is your programme working against cyber violence in relationships? Have you ever wondered if it should?

Participants learned:

1. How perpetrators use technology to control their partners and children
2. How to recognise the most common forms of cyberviolence
3. Practical ways of working on cyber violence with the men in your programmes

Download the slides here

The Facilitator

Christina Jankowski works as Senior External Relations Manager for Kaspersky, one of the leading cybersecurity companies in the world.
Kaspersky is also one of the founding partners of the Coalition Against Stalkerware. The Coalition is a new global working group combining expertise for victim support and cybersecurity to help users affected by stalkerware (www.stopstalkerware.org).
Christina shared Kaspersky’s knowledge on stalkerware as a first introduction to the topic, to understand the problem and threats, and also to give some advice how to protect against stalkerware.

The Webinar

Stalkerware is software that enables perpetrators to monitor the activities of their partners without their knowledge or consent. Installed on a cell phone, these apps grant access to the most private information, such as text messages, location of the phone’s user and much more. According to Kaspersky, a leading cybersecurity company, the number of users facing stalkerware rose by 35% in the last year, while the European Institute for Gender Equality found that “70 % of women who have experienced cyber stalking, have also experienced at least one form of physical or/and sexual violence from an intimate partner”.

In stalkerware, we are facing an increasing threat towards women in abusive relationships and a dangerous tool of power and control.

In this introductory webinar, participants learned about

• Available apps
• Numbers behind the problem
• Information which perpetrators can access via stalkerware
• Perpetrators’ easy access to the software

Heinrich Geldschläger, CONEXUS: Capacitando profesionales para involucrar a los agresores en la lucha contra la violencia de género/ Training Frontline Professionals to Engage Male Perpetrators of Domestic Violence

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAsYyvHfo24&t=4s (in Spanish)

The Webinar

In this webinar, Heinrich Geldschläger, Conexus (Spain), gave a brief introduction on the importance of working with male perpetrators as part of a coordinated response against gender-based violence, as well as, on the WWP EN network that promotes this work to be carried out safely and effectively throughout Europe. He explained the ENGAGE Roadmap and Training for frontline professionals to address gender-based violence in men, which were developed by European partners in cooperation with the University of Bristol and RESPECT. He also shared some lessons learned and evaluation results from the ENGAGE pilot implementation in France, Italy and Spain, allowing participants to reflect on how to address violence with men in their own frontline services and on their own referral routes for these men, opening new possibilities.

Oscar Acevedo, EUROsociAL: Violencia de género contra las mujeres y trabajo con agresores en Colombia y Guatemala/ Representation & Reality: GBV & Perpetrator Work in Colombia & Guatemala

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8L1OG-1sI0 (in Spanish)

Download the slides (Spanish)

The Webinar

In this webinar, Oscar Acevedo (Colombia) shared his experiences on how perpetrators in prisons in Colombia and Guatemala acknowledge their violent actions. In both countries, admitting or rejecting the damage done is an attitude related to different factors and cultural representations. At the same time, national legal frameworks, justice operator approaches and intervention methodologies on how to reintegrate perpetrators have to deal with different views on how to understand gender-based violence. Oscar also showed some examples of how programmes can work with perpetrators in prisons.