Attribution of liability in cases involving those convicted of intimate partner violence

Abstract

This article analyzes the strategies of justification and denial about the responsibility of aggressors convicts of gender violence. After consulting previous studies and the analysis of Penitentiary Records of 129 aggressors who have been convicted for one or more legal issues of gender violence, it has been carried out a semi-structured interview, and also it has been applied the Attribution of Responsibility and Minimization Scale (Lila, Herrero & Gracia, 2008). The outcomes show that a high percentage of aggressors tend to take responsibility for their acts of violence. In the same way it has been found that convicts who have participated in a specific program of treatment of gender violence minimize damage to a lesser extent, therefore they assume the responsibility for the violence. However, the study concludes that there are many aggressors who blame the victim of the episodes of violence.