Accountability & Hope for Those Who Cause Harm

Congregations include not only survivors, but also people who hurt their loved ones. While safety* and support for survivors must be prioritized, faith leaders are also charged with the spiritual care of those who commit harm. For faith leaders, loving and supporting those who cause harm means holding them accountable for ending the abuse. It may not always be safe (for the survivor) for a faith leader to work with or talk to the abuser, but when it is, faith leaders need adequate information and guidance. This section features tools and resources to help faith leaders respond to those in their congregations who cause harm.

* For survivors of violence, safety is a broad concept. It’s not limited to reducing physical violence or a partner’s controlling behavior. Safety includes access to essential human needs, like food and shelter. It's also about attending to the social and emotional wellbeing of survivors.

How can partnerships with faith communities support accountability and hope for those who cause harm?

Faith communities have a key role to play in supporting accountability for those who cause harm. In NRCDV's July 2020 Technical Assistance Question of the Month (TAQ), guest writers Rev. Dr. Anne Marie Hunter, Director and Dr. David Adams explore how partnerships between domestic violence service providers and faith communities can work to promote accountability and hope.

Between Compassion and Accountability: Guidelines for Faith Leaders Responding to People Who Abuse Intimate Partners

Safe Havens has partnered with Dr. David Adams to develop this guide for faith leaders. This resource is intended to point the way and to give faith leaders confidence that we can offer those who abuse both accountability and the compassion and support they need to end the abuse.

Abusers in the Congregation with Dr. David Adams

This webinar series from Safe Havens was designed for advocates and faith leaders (clergy and lay) to participate in together. This webinar focused on how to create safe congregations and have accountability for abusers in congregations.

Enhancing Faith-Based Responses in Abusive Partner Intervention

In this podcast episode from the Center for Court Innovation, presenters discuss the importance of engaging and partnering with faith leaders in the community response against domestic violence, highlighting several faith leaders who have used their platform to engage with people who use violence as well as a new toolkit on the topic.

When the Abuser Is Among Us: One Church’s Response to a Perpetrator

One Christian congregation's response to the sexual abuse of children within their community. The article explains the central issues of naming versus denial, accountability versus collusion, offering safety or doing nothing.

Why Faith Matters: Rev. Lydia Mulkey on Forgiveness and Sin

In this short video, Rev. Lydia Mulkey, pastor and anti-violence activist, discusses the issue of forgiveness and how Christians sometimes focus more on forgiving the sinner rather than on helping the victim/survivor.

Entering the Brokenness

Whenever the trauma of domestic violence occurs within a faith community, it is a gross violation of not only the victim of the violence and the immediate family; it also violates the spiritual integrity of the whole community of faith and each of its members. This packet provides guidance to church leaders coping with domestic violence homicides in their own communities.

Can Forgiveness Play a Role in Criminal Justice?

This article describes how parents of a domestic violence victim (Ann) coped with her murder by her boyfriend (Conor) and ultimately used the process of restorative justice (controversial in domestic violence cases) to find forgiveness with the help of their strong religious beliefs and religious support system.

Forgiveness: The Last Step

Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune explores the issue of forgiveness for victims/survivors and the theological understanding that forgiveness is the last step in healing. Forgiveness is founded upon justice; only the victim can define when and if they are willing and able to offer forgiveness.

Victim-Defined Advocacy Beyond Leaving: Safer through Strategies to Reduce Violent Behavior

This paper explores strategies to reduce violent behavior, both physical violence and all other forms of abuse, using a victim-defined approach. It recognizes that reducing violence is central to our mission, difficult, and long been a part of our advocacy to make victims safer.

WEBINAR: Reducing Violent Behavior

Survivors in contact with a partner or parent who is abusive cannot rely on leaving a relationship or physical separation to end the violence, abuse, or control. For them to be safer, the violent behavior must be reduced, and they’ll need options to meet basic need and be well. This webinar features Jacquelyn Boggess, Lisa Nitsch, Juan Carlos Areán, and Jill Davies in an important conversation about supporting behavior change, safety planning, and our advocacy.

Clearinghouse on Abusive Partner Intervention and Engagement: As part of the Abusive Partner Accountability and Engagement Training and Technical Assistance Project, the Center for Court Innovation, in collaboration with Futures Without Violence and a team of national experts, has created a clearinghouse of research and information around abusive partner intervention and engagement. Read more here.

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Accountability & Hope for Those Who Cause Harm