(1) A batterers’ intervention program must meet the following requirements:
(a) The primary purpose of the program shall be victim safety and the safety of children, if present.
(b) The batterer shall be held accountable for acts of domestic violence.
(c) The program shall be at least 29 weeks in length and include 24 weekly sessions, plus appropriate intake, assessment, and orientation programming.
(d) The program content shall be based on a cognitive behavioral therapy model or psychoeducational model that addresses tactics of power and control by one person over another.
(e) The program shall be funded by user fees paid by the batterers who attend the program, which allows them to take responsibility for their acts of violence. An exception shall be made for local, state, or federal programs that fund batterers’ intervention programs in whole or in part.
(2) The requirements of this section apply only to programs that address the perpetration of violence between intimate partners, spouses, ex-spouses, or those who share a child in common or who are cohabitants in intimate relationships for the purpose of exercising power and control by one over the other. It will endanger victims if courts and other referral agencies refer family and household members who are not perpetrators of the type of domestic violence encompassed by these requirements. Accordingly, the court and others who make referrals should refer perpetrators only to programming that appropriately addresses the violence committed.
History.—s. 17, ch. 95-195; s. 3, ch. 2001-183; s. 13, ch. 2012-147; s. 4, ch. 2021-152.