BAG Täterarbeit Häusliche Gewalt — Germany's National Standards Network for Domestic-Violence Perpetrator Work

The Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Täterarbeit Häusliche Gewalt e.V. (BAG TäHG) is a pro-feminist national umbrella association, founded in 2007 and headquartered in Berlin, that unites domestic-violence perpetrator-work facilities across Germany around shared professional standards developed jointly with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs. As of its latest reporting the network comprises 86 member institutions running 118 counselling locations nationwide; in 2024, 46 of these facilities delivered direct counselling to people who use violence. The network positions its work as implementing Article 16 of the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention on preventive intervention and treatment programmes, which Germany ratified in 2017 and which entered into force there on 1 February 2018.

A peer-reviewed longitudinal evaluation (Liel, 2017, Forensische Psychiatrie, Psychologie, Kriminologie) followed 161 perpetrator-work participants and found that programme dropouts had a significantly higher risk of child maltreatment than completers at baseline (n=92 compared), while completers who were followed up (n=78) showed statistically significant improvement, with moderate effect sizes, on specialist-assessed dynamic risk indicators for further violence.

Caveat: because BAG TäHG is a coordinating standards body for many independently operated local programmes rather than a single uniform intervention, outcomes vary by member facility, and the cited evaluation covers a sample from programmes affiliated with this style of standards-based perpetrator work rather than every member institution individually.

Read the full analysis: https://www.bag-taeterarbeit.de/