Mother Jones

What's the Best Way to Change an Abuser?

IN A DRAB college classroom in Oakland, California, about a dozen men sit in a half-circle of desks, arranged in order of who’s been coming here the longest. The guy with 21 weeks under his belt sits farthest from the door while the guys with more than 40 weeks sit closest to it.

“I thought it was your last week?” asks a man with about 30 weeks.

“Nah, I decided to keep going,” responds one with 42 weeks. “I went too far to quit now.”

Right at 6:30 p.m., the group’s most senior member, 46 weeks, walks in. Everyone calls out his name. Fist bumps follow.

Joshua Ewing arrives shortly afterward. A 34-year-old covered in prison tattoos, Ewing first came to this classroom more than three years ago after he was convicted of punching and choking his girlfriend. A judge

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