# Domestic Abuse Intervention Project _The Duluth nonprofit that devised the coordinated community response known as the Duluth model — its founding in 1980, its agency agreements, its curricula and training, the organizations it spun off, the honors and evaluations attached to it, and its own account of its results_ | Domestic Abuse Intervention Project | | |---|---| | Parent corporation | Minnesota Program Development, Inc. (MPDI), incorporated 1980; now Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP) | | Location | Duluth, Minnesota | | First director | Ellen Pence (died 2012) | | Mission | "to end violence against women" | | Programs (as listed 2017) | Duluth Core Programs (the Project, the Duluth Family Visitation Center, Training and Resources); the Battered Women's Justice Project (independent since 2015); Mending the Sacred Hoop | | Curricula | *Power and Control: Tactics of Men Who Batter* (1986, updated 1993), retitled *Creating a Process of Change for Men Who Batter* (2003); *Education Groups for Men Who Batter: The Duluth Model* (1993) | | Honors | Ford Foundation and Kennedy School innovations award (1987); Future Policy Gold Award (2014) | | Parent articles | [[Duluth model]] · [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]] | | Status | child article; restates the record; adjudicates nothing | The **Domestic Abuse Intervention Project** is the Duluth project, begun in 1980 under the nonprofit Minnesota Program Development, Inc., that organized the police, prosecutors, courts, probation officers and advocates of a single city into the coordinated community response now called the [[Duluth model]].[^1] Its parent corporation, now Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, states that it "was incorporated as a nonprofit agency in 1980 under the name Minnesota Program Development, Inc.", that the project began "in a small, upstairs kitchen of the Duluth Community Health Center", and that its mission is "to end violence against women."[^2][^3] The project is a private nonprofit, not a state agency; its documents are cited here as its own account. It sits beside the state instruments listed in [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]] — the 1977 shelter law and the 1979 [[Domestic Abuse Act]] that preceded it, and the 2001 program standards that followed — and Michael Paymar, whom the project credits as a co-creator of the Power and Control Wheel, later served as a DFL legislator, a link traced in [[DFL Feminists]]; the 1979 act was signed by an Independent-Republican governor, a link traced in [[GOP Feminists]] and the parent [[How Minnesota Got Here]].[^4][^5][^6][^7][^8][^9] ## Founding and the first agreements, 1980–1985 **Founding.** The project's timeline records that "At the request of the Duluth shelter (Women's Coalition), Duluth is selected as the site for a pilot criminal justice reform project"; the opening narrative of its history page adds that "Three people were employed to coordinate the project, provide services to victims and offenders, and negotiate policies and procedures with community agencies."[^1][^2] Ellen Pence, its first director, wrote that the organizers were "activists in the battered women's movement."[^10][^2] She died in January 2012 at 63; the *Duluth News Tribune* described her as a co-founder of the project.[^11][^12] **How many agencies.** The project's documents count the founding partners differently. Its history states that "Nine city, county, and private agencies came together" to adopt coordinated policies, and its timeline gives eight agencies in 1981 and nine in 1982; Pence's account gives eleven in the initial collaboration; and the website says that "Eventually, eleven community agencies agreed" to continue working together.[^1][^10][^3] **The early agreements.** In 1981 the Duluth police issued an experimental mandatory-arrest policy and three mental health centers began groups for men who batter; in 1982 nine agencies made the experimental policies permanent and the court raised mandated sessions from eight to twelve weeks; in 1985 the court raised them to twenty-six weeks, and when the prosecutor's "no drop" policy was eliminated, "conviction rates gradually fall from 80% to below 47%."[^1] In 1987 "The prosecutor's office returns to the practice of subpoenaing victims", and in 1989 the police adopted a policy that "eliminates arrests in self-defense cases".[^1][^2] ## Curricula and the wheel **The men's curriculum.** The groups for men were combined with the educational model in the manual *Power and Control: Tactics of Men Who Batter* (1986, updated 1993); in 1993 Springer published *Education Groups for Men Who Batter: The Duluth Model*; and in 2003 the project retitled the facilitator's manual: "Formerly titled Power and Control: Tactics of Men Who Batter, the new curriculum title is Creating a Process of Change for Men Who Batter."[^1][^2] The project now sells the curriculum as "The most-widely used curriculum for working with men who batter."[^13] **The Power and Control Wheel.** The project's documents give three years for the wheel. Its development note says it was created in 1982 by Pence, Coral McDonnell and Paymar; the timeline says "Women in the neighborhood groups develop the Power and Control Wheel" in 1983; and the answers to frequently asked questions say that "Over several months in 1984, we asked women in our educational groups for women who had been battered to describe the specific behaviors of the men who battered them."[^7][^1][^14] The development note adds that the battered women "did not identify a desire for power or control as motivating their partners".[^7] ## Training, spin-offs and partnerships **The National Training Project, 1989.** In 1989 "Duluth hosts its first week-long on-site institute for practitioners in eleven states", and the project organized the National Training Project to teach the model and fund its other programs; it was renamed Domestic Abuse Intervention Project Training and Resources in 2003.[^1] The same year the Duluth Family Visitation Center opened and "A five-year recidivism study is completed on arrests made in 1985."[^1] **Spin-offs.** In 1990 the Inter-tribal Council to End Violence in Indian Families organized Mending the Sacred Hoop under the training project; in 1993 the "Department of Health and Human Services funds MPDI to form in collaboration with three domestic violence programs, the Battered Women's Justice Project", which became an independent nonprofit in 2015.[^1][^15] Under contracts with the U.S. Marine Corps from 1992 the corporation developed a Marine Corps intervention model and later provided training and technical assistance for coordinated-response projects at several Marine installations in the United States and Japan.[^1] **Blueprint for Safety, 2011–2017.** "Duluth was selected in 2011 as one of 3 national sites for the Blueprint for Safety Adaptation Demonstration Initiative," a project of the federal Office on Violence Against Women with Praxis International; in 2015 "The City of Duluth and 6 criminal justice agencies announced the adoption of a new collective domestic violence policy"; and the project describes the work, completed in 2017, as "a five year organizing effort".[^2][^1] ## Honors and claims of results **Honors.** The City of Duluth received the Ford Foundation's Kennedy School of Government award for "Innovations in State and Local Government" in 1987; the Minnesota Medical Association and the American Medical Association honored the project in 1994 and 1996; the Duluth Police Department received the International Association of Chiefs of Police Community Policing Award in 2012 after using the project's Safety Audit; and in 2014, the project states, "Out of 25 international nominations, the Duluth Model was the only policy to be awarded the 2014 Future Policy Award".[^1][^2][^16] In 2023 the Northland Foundation awarded "The Carlton County Attorney's Office and DAIP a $150,000 grant" to examine that county's response to domestic violence.[^2] **The project's own figures.** The project's answers to frequently asked questions state that "68% of men who pass through the criminal justice system response and are sent to our men's nonviolence classes have not reappeared in the criminal justice system over a course of eight years", and that "The Duluth Model is the most widely-adopted approach in the world for intervening with men who batter"; they also say that "The effect of intervening with complex social problems is very difficult to evaluate."[^14] Paymar and Barnes, writing for the Battered Women's Justice Project, cite a different Duluth figure: of "100 offenders who had been ordered to complete a 26-week education program", tracked for five years, "Forty percent of the court-mandated offenders recidivated at least once during the five years".[^17] The federal evaluations and ratings of the model are set out in the [[Duluth model]] ledger.[^18][^19] **Paymar in office.** The Legislative Reference Library records Michael Paymar as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1997 to 2014, elected as a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member from District 64B, and lists him as an author of the 1993 men's-group manual; the 2014 Women's Economic Security Act lists him among its thirty-five House authors.[^8][^20] ## Record and readings On one reading, set out in the [[Duluth model]] ledger, the project is the private engine of a sex-specific public architecture: its stated mission is "to end violence against women", its wheel was drawn only from women's accounts, and its spin-off's custody framework, SAFeR, is used in a family court that was a federally funded project site.[^3][^7][^21][^22][^23] On the other, the project is a local nonprofit whose methods Duluth's agencies and other jurisdictions adopted by agreement, whose honors came mostly from private, professional and international bodies — the Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School, medical associations, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the World Future Council — and whose authors write that they "have never supported state statutes that mandate a particular treatment model".[^2][^1][^16][^17] Neither reading is supported by a claim that the project is a state agency or that any Minnesota statute names it.[^1][^24] ## Open items 1. **The 68 percent figure.** The study behind it is not identified on the project's pages, and it differs from the 40 percent five-year figure that Paymar and Barnes cite.[^14][^17] 2. **The 1989 five-year study.** Its authors, methods and findings were not read.[^1] 3. **Funding.** The project's budgets and its sources of public money, including the federal Blueprint for Safety grant, were not read.[^2] ## See also - [[Duluth model]] · [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]] · [[How Minnesota Got Here]] - [[DFL Feminists]] · [[GOP Feminists]] - [[Domestic Abuse Act]] · [[Battered Women's Justice Project]] · [[CrimeSolutions]] ## Notes [^1]: Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, "History and Recognition" (2017) — incorporation in 1980 as Minnesota Program Development, Inc.; site chosen at the Duluth shelter's request; year-by-year timeline 1981–2003 of arrest policies, session lengths, the wheel, the National Training Project and the curricula. https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/DAIP-History-and-Recognition-2017.pdf [^2]: Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, "History, Benchmarks, and Recognitions" — nine founding agencies; work "found in every state"; 2011 Blueprint for Safety site with the Office on Violence Against Women and Praxis International; 2014 Future Policy Award; 2017 London event; Paymar's work and co-authorships. https://www.theduluthmodel.org/about-us/recognitions/ [^3]: Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, "About Us" — mission "to end violence against women"; the eleven agencies of the first coordinated response; programs for victims and for men who batter. https://www.theduluthmodel.org/about-us/ [^4]: Laws of Minnesota 1977, ch. 428 (S.F. 124), approved June 2, 1977 — pilot shelter and support programs for battered women; community education; data collection; displaced homemakers. Office of the Revisor of Statutes. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1977/0/428 [^5]: Laws of Minnesota 1979, ch. 214 (H.F. 521), approved May 25, 1979 — the Domestic Abuse Act, Minn. Stat. § 518B.01: definitions, petitions and orders for protection for "family or household members." Office of the Revisor of Statutes. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1979/0/214 [^6]: Minn. Stat. § 518B.02 (2025) — subd. 1, program required as a condition of a stayed sentence; subd. 2(a)–(l), standards, including 24 sessions or 36 hours and (i) separate sessions by sex; subd. 3 repealed, 2023 c 52 art 5 s 80; history from 1Sp2001 c 8 art 10 s 6. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/518B.02 [^7]: Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, "The Development of the Power and Control Wheel" — created in 1982 by Pence, Coral McDonnell and Michael Paymar for a court-ordered men's program; drawn from battered women's accounts; "not a theory"; based on heterosexual relationships; translated into over 30 languages. https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/The-Development-of-the-Power-and-Control.pdf [^8]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Legislators Past & Present, record of Michael Paymar — House 1997–2014 (District 64B), Democratic-Farmer-Labor, Ramsey County; born in Duluth; publications including *Education Groups for Men Who Batter: The Duluth Model* (1993). https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?ID=10513 [^9]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, "Minnesota Governors" — list with dates of office and party: Perpich (DFL) from 12/29/1976; Quie (Independent-Republican) from 1/4/1979; Perpich from 1/3/1983; Carlson (Independent-Republican) from 1/7/1991; Ventura (Reform) from 1/4/1999; Pawlenty from 1/6/2003; Dayton from 1/3/2011; Walz (DFL) from 1/7/2019. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/lrl/mngov/gov.aspx [^10]: Ellen Pence, "The Duluth Model" (Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, posted 2017) — origins among "activists in the battered women's movement"; the eleven-agency initiative of 1980–81; the coordinated community response; "the most replicated woman abuse intervention model in the country." https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/The-Duluth-Model.pdf [^11]: Tom Crann, "Friend and colleague remembers Ellen Pence," MPR News, Jan. 13, 2012 — Pence of St. Paul, "internationally renowned" for creating the Duluth model, died the previous week at 63 of breast cancer. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/01/13/ellen-pence-remembrance [^12]: Duluth News Tribune, "Abuse victims' advocate Ellen Pence dies" (Jan. 6, 2012) — co-founder of Duluth's Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, considered the "mother" of domestic violence intervention; died at 63 after a struggle with breast cancer. https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/abuse-victims-advocate-ellen-pence-dies [^13]: Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, product page, "Creating a Process of Change for Men Who Batter" curriculum package — "The most-widely used curriculum for working with men who batter"; lesson plans for up to 30 weeks of classes. https://www.theduluthmodel.org/product/creating-process-change-men-batter-curriculum-package/ [^14]: Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, "Frequently Asked Questions" — the 68 percent eight-year figure; replies to criticism and to the charge of shaming; reasons for gendered language ("men commit over 85% of all criminal assaults"); women's use of violence. https://www.theduluthmodel.org/what-is-the-duluth-model/frequently-asked-questions/ [^15]: Battered Women's Justice Project, "Our Mission" — national resource center; "started in 1993 as a part of the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project"; independent nonprofit since 2015; offices in St. Paul. https://bwjp.org/about/our-mission-1/ [^16]: World Future Council, futurepolicy.org, "Minnesota's 'Duluth Model'" — Future Policy Gold Award 2014 with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women; the model as introduced in Duluth in 1981 to implement the Domestic Abuse Act; international adoption. https://www.futurepolicy.org/violence/duluth-model/ [^17]: Michael Paymar and Graham Barnes (Battered Women's Justice Project), "Countering Confusion about the Duluth Model" — replies to the 2003 NIJ studies, the Babcock meta-analysis and Dutton and Corvo; fidelity of the NIJ sites; gender and homicide data; opposition to statutes mandating a model. https://theduluthmodel.org/pdf/CounteringConfusion.pdf [^18]: CrimeSolutions (National Institute of Justice), practice profile, "Interventions for Persons Who Committed Intimate-Partner Violence: Duluth Model" (posted Sept. 13, 2013; no longer updated) — "Effective" on violent offenses (d = 0.19); "Promising" on victimization (d = 0.35); Babcock meta-analysis. https://crimesolutions.ojp.gov/ratedpractices/17 [^19]: Shelly Jackson et al., *Batterer Intervention Programs: Where Do We Go From Here?* (NIJ Special Report, NCJ 195079, June 2003) — model types; the Broward County and Brooklyn experiments; limitations; "impossible to say how effective BIPs are." https://www.ojp.gov/txtfiles1/nij/195079.txt [^20]: Office of the Revisor of Statutes, bill status, H.F. 2536 (88th Legislature, 2014), Women's Economic Security Act — 35 House authors led by Melin (including Paymar); conferees; votes 106–24, 51–14, 104–24 and 43–24; approved May 11, 2014; chapter 239. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/88/2014/0/HF/2536 [^21]: Battered Women's Justice Project, "Children" (National Legal Center on Children and Domestic Violence, formerly the SAFeR project) — SAFeR developed in 2009 by BWJP's National Child Custody Project; implemented in many jurisdictions; subject of a national research project. https://bwjp.org/our-work/children/ [^22]: Center for Court Innovation, "Domestic Violence Mentor Court Fact Sheet: Hennepin County" (2018) — mentor courts selected by the Office on Violence Against Women; family court practices, including judicial officers' use of BWJP's SAFeR approach. https://WWW.COURTINNOVATION.ORG/sites/default/files/media/documents/2018-07/hennepin.pdf [^23]: National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, webinar page, "The Family Court Enhancement Project — Part I of IV: Reflections from Hennepin County, Minnesota" (Sept. 11, 2015) — the Fourth Judicial District as one of four federally funded sites. https://ncjfcj.org/webcasts/the-family-court-enhancement-project-part-i-of-iv-reflections-from-hennepin-county-minnesota [^24]: Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes and Session Laws topic index, "Domestic abuse" — entries for orders for protection, counseling and educational programs, arrests, prosecution plans and shelters; no entry for the Duluth model. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/index/comb/topic/domestic_abuse