1-1  By:  West                                              S.C.R. No. 3
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed December 7, 1994; January 10, 1995,
    1-3  read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
    1-4  January 31, 1995, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
    1-5  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0;
    1-6  January 31, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-7  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.C.R. No. 3                     By:  West
    1-8                     SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-9        WHEREAS, Victims of domestic violence recognize the need for
   1-10  a therapeutic approach to change the behavior of abusive partners,
   1-11  and many perpetrators of domestic violence are not provided an
   1-12  opportunity to modify their abusive behavior because of a lack of
   1-13  intervention programs in Texas; and
   1-14        WHEREAS, Outcome studies have shown that batterers
   1-15  intervention programs do help men develop better communication
   1-16  skills, learn to abate anger, learn conflict resolution skills,
   1-17  gain respect, and reduce animosity toward women after having
   1-18  received batterers intervention treatment; and
   1-19        WHEREAS, In 1989, the 71st Legislature established the
   1-20  Battering Intervention and Prevention Project as part of the
   1-21  community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of
   1-22  Criminal Justice; the project, Texas' first direct involvement in
   1-23  domestic violence prevention through specialized programs to
   1-24  rehabilitate offenders, is a vital supplement to law enforcement
   1-25  and criminal justice systems in responding to domestic violence;
   1-26  and
   1-27        WHEREAS, Perpetrators of domestic violence must be identified
   1-28  before their behavior can be modified, and a study commissioned by
   1-29  the Texas Department of Human Services found that approximately
   1-30  600,000 women are abused in Texas every year while in 1993 there
   1-31  were only 155,767 reported incidents and only 2,254 perpetrators
   1-32  completed battering intervention and prevention program treatments;
   1-33  now, therefore, be it
   1-34        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas
   1-35  hereby encourage the community justice assistance division of the
   1-36  Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Council on
   1-37  Family Violence to issue a directive that local community
   1-38  supervision and correctional departments work with battering
   1-39  intervention and prevention programs to ensure that each community
   1-40  has a system for receiving referrals and reporting violations.
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