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. 1-41 * * * * *