How Domestic Abusers Win Back Their Victims

"Amy E. Bonomi et al. (2011) studied real cases post-abuse, where suspects attempted to persuade their victims to recant.[iv] Using a sample of 25 heterosexual couples, the research team examined live telephone conversations between domestic violence perpetrators and victims to find out how and why victims decided to recant and/or resist prosecution. In all of the cases they studied, the male perpetrator was detained for felony-level domestic violence and called the female victim during his incarceration pre-prosecution."

"Examining 30-192 minutes of conversational data for each couple, Bonomi et al. recorded the interpersonal processes linked with the victim's intention to recant, as well as how the couple constructed their recantation plan. Acknowledging the underlying coercive interpersonal dynamic, their results demonstrated that the victim's intention to recant was most influenced by perpetrator appeals to sympathy. These included descriptions of suffering from both mental and physical conditions, "intolerable" conditions in jail,"

A sample of 25 heterosexual couples was examined through live telephone conversations in which detained male perpetrators called female victims pre-prosecution. Between 30 and 192 minutes of conversational data per couple were analyzed to identify interpersonal processes linked to victims' intentions to recant and the construction of recantation plans. Victim intention to recant was most influenced by perpetrator appeals to sympathy, including descriptions of mental and physical suffering and "intolerable" jail conditions. Perpetrator tactics also included minimization of abuse. Most perpetrators seeking recantation did not make direct threats of harm.

Read at Psychology Today