The Fatherhood of Perpetrators of Domestic Violence

Abstract Legislative and social developments have led to attempts to prevent domestic violence and provide more support and care for female victims and children exposed to such violence, as well as to scrutiny of the parenting of perpetrators. The aim of our study is to shed light on the parenting of these subjects, and particularly their psychological experience, their 'being a father'. Thirty offenders sentenced to terms of imprisonment combined with psycho-educational or treatment measures were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews, the subject of a double lexical and thematic analysis (18), show that these subjects' exercise and practice of parenting are linked to traumatic childhood experiences. Two clinical cases highlight the need to encourage the subjectification of their relationship with the partner, their suffering and their fatherhood through genuine treatment measures.