In order to prevent feminicides, psychosocial support for men who have experienced a police arrest would be a key element of the solution according to the general director of the organization Entraide pour hommes, Geneviève Landry.
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In an interview with LCN, the speaker states that the vast majority of femicides occur when the attacker has already been arrested for domestic violence, and that according to her, these men should therefore be better taken care of in terms of psychological support in order to prevent these crimes.
“In almost all feminicides, we have been able to see that the man [en question] was known to police circles, that he had been arrested for domestic violence, she explains. About a quarter of them even had conditions not to approach the victim.”
“In my opinion, what Quebec would lack is to have psychosocial support around this man who experienced a police arrest,” she adds. Obviously, there are conditions of release such as not approaching the victim, keeping the peace, but there is no psychosocial or psychojudicial monitoring which makes it possible to assess the severity of the violence, to assess the risk of homicide, throughout the legal process.”
Although the police offer psychosocial support to men, it is up to them to ask for it, which they are not often inclined to do.
A pilot project exists within the Entraide pour hommes organization to systematically enter directly into contact with men who have been arrested for domestic violence.
“Obviously, it’s voluntary help, but more than 75% of men agree to discuss with the worker, which allows us to assess the risk of homicide, to publicize resources and to offer him tools to reduce the risk of recidivism,” says Mme Landry.
“What we see across Quebec […] several social workers are at police stations to intervene and communicate with victims, however, there is nothing around the aggressor, and we believe that this resource should be added to intervene at the source , she continues. As long as the attacker is not surrounded and there is no safety net around him, the violence will continue and so will the risk of homicide.”
This strategy makes it possible in particular to assess the risk associated with these individuals, but also to ensure monitoring and a certain “safety net” throughout the legal process.
Going to court, in particular, can be an element that accelerates violent acts.
“What we see is that […] going to court is an event which can be stressful, and I don’t want to excuse it, but which can lead to stress which will lead him to reoffend in terms of domestic violence, or stress which will lead him to have obsessive behavior such as following your partner, harassing her, having homicidal thoughts,” mentions the speaker.
The Entraide pour hommes organization evaluates numerous cases of domestic violence each year in Montérégie, including approximately 80 which present risks.
“When we intervene with this man, we must establish what we call a climate of security so that this man can honestly tell us what is going on in his head,” shares the general director. Often, I will say that he is not responsible for what is happening in his head, but responsible for his behavior, his gestures, what he does.
“Usually, from the moment we name the words clearly, it allows the man to name and say that indeed he has ideas of revenge, indeed he has ideas of killing her and for him it is at be a liberation, she continues. I know very few men who are comfortable with these excessive thoughts.”
This would be the key to the intervention.
“So from the moment we can have the truth, where we have what is going on in his head, we will work with him to deconstruct these ideas and work on the right things, namely what the source is. of these thoughts, to work on them and to install a safety net and sometimes we will also call on those around us who will help us in this safety net,” adds Mme Landry.
Rapid intervention cells also exist to protect potential victims when a man is categorized as being at risk.
These ensure that numerous stakeholders from various backgrounds meet to put in place a plan to protect the victim and the children.
No murders occurred following the implementation of such an intervention.
Watch the full interview in the video above