"Domestic and family violence is a pervasive and frequently lethal problem that challenges society at every level. Violence in families is often hidden from view and devastates its victims physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially. It threatens the stability of the family and negatively impacts on all family members, especially the children who learn from it that violence is an acceptable way to cope with stress or problems or to gain control over another person. It violates our communities' safety, health, welfare and economies by draining billions annually in social costs such as medical expenses, psychological problems, lost productivity and intergenerational violence. Domestic and family violence must be reduced and prevented. When it occurs, we must intervene effectively."
 
Model Code on Domestic & Family Violence
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges 1994
The Circuit Court of Cook County continues to be in the forefront in the effort to intervene in, reduce and prevent domestic and family violence through the development and application of specialized supervision and treatment strategies directed at the domestic violence offender. The Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 resulted in a more aggressive arrest policy with batterers and more vigorous prosecution of their cases.
 
The court's Social Service Department's Domestic Violence Program (heretofore referred to as the program) was established in the First Municipal District in 1979 and has since expanded to all suburban districts. Currently, offenders ordered to the program are supervised by specially trained domestic violence staff who provide specialized supervision and group intervention to persons found guilty by the court of violent behavior against partners with whom they have had an intimate/dating relationship and who have received a court order of reporting conditional discharge or reporting supervision. These sworn court services personnel provide probationary supervision and requisite abuser treatment to domestic violence offenders. By integrating the authority and sanctions of the court with state-of-the-art abuser treatment intervention in a court-based setting, the Department believes it can hold abusers accountable, attend to victim safety, maximize the impact of treatment and react swiftly and effectively if the intervention is not working.
 
ILLINOIS PROTOCOL
The Social Service Department's Domestic Violence Program has been awarded compliance status with the standards for abuser treatment as set forth in the Illinois Protocol for Domestic Abuse Batterers Programs. In 1992 the Illinois Department of Public Aid requested the Social Service Department to participate on the Male Responsibility Abuser Service Committee of the Domestic Violence Advisory Council. The committee was charged with creating the protocol. The purpose of the protocol is to reduce and prevent domestic violence through effective, quality and accountable programs that have the potential to help prevent future occurrences of violence, recognize appropriate interventions with this population and establish a minimum level of expectations. Published in 1994, the protocol provides guidelines and direction in those areas where there is consensus among practitioners regarding treatment issues. The protocol includes input from victim services and batterers programs, judges, state's attorneys, police officers and other organizations and advocates throughout the State of Illinois.
 
The Illinois Department of Public Aid evaluates abuser services and provides a list of programs throughout the state that comply with the Illinois Protocol. Their evaluation includes but is not limited to the following:

• The inclusion of a specialized approach is required that focuses on ending violence and placing the safety and rights of victims at highest priority.
   
  
• The structure of a domestic violence program must include group intervention.
   
  
• The content of a program should include a broad definition of violence, both physical and nonphysical behavior, and address power and control as the motive.
   
  
• Safety planning should be addressed including time outs and control logs.

PROGRAM PHILOSOPHY
The overall goal of the Domestic Violence Program is to eliminate the use of violence by offenders. Two principles that determine and shape the intervention strategies are abuser accountability and victim safety. Once the physical violence has ceased, the goal is to stop other forms of violence and intimidation that offenders use to gain control over their partners. Principles of the program's philosophy are as follows:

Violence is a learned behavior. As high as 80% of male batterers experienced or witnessed abuse as a child. Observation of violence in the family of origin has more consistently predicted violence by men toward their partners than has abuse as a child. If violence is a learned behavior, alternatives to violence may be learned as well.
 
Violence is a choice. While persons often describe feeling out of control when they commit violent acts, they are actually in control of their behavior and can learn nonviolent behavior to replace their physical and nonphysical violence. The batterer is solely responsible for his or her use of violence. Blaming others or outside factors, such as alcohol, drugs or stress, prevents him or her from acknowledging responsibility for his or her behavior. Taking responsibility permits batterers to make a decision to change their violent behavior.
 
Power and control are at the root of violent behavior. Persons behave abusively from a desire to control their partners' thoughts, feelings and behavior. By controlling their partners, they feel more powerful.
 
Violence towards partners is a crime and should be treated as such. Domestic violence is not a family matter. One of the key pathological aspects of the battering relationship is the shift in responsibility for the violence from the batterer to the victim. A clear message must be sent to the batterer that the batterer is responsible for his or her behavior, there is no excuse for domestic violence and that he or she does not have the right to brutalize his or her partner.
 
Cultural and social attitudes are a significant force in perpetuating domestic violence. It is important not to overemphasize this in terms of responsibility for abusive behavior. Even though battering may be culturally sanctioned, battering or factors that support it are unacceptable.