Julia Wood thinks the way to end domestic violence is to understand why men abuse women and to teach them how to stop.

Wood, a professor of humanities and communication studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, interviewed 22 inmates who took part in a pilot program at Albemarle prison aimed at treating domestic abusers through counseling.

"It's very clear to me if you want to stop the violence, you've got to look at who's doing it," said Wood, who has studied domestic violence for more than a decade.

Expanding abuser treatment programs, such as the one at Albemarle, to inmates at all 76 N.C. prisons is part of a bill to strengthen domestic violence laws that was approved Tuesday by the House and is headed to the Senate.

Other provisions include tighter sentences for some offenders, funding for legal representation of victims and special training for police, lawyers and judges.

The legislation is the result of more than a year of study and input from advocates, experts and government agencies prompted in part by a series in 2003 on the subject in The News & Observer.

The recent high-profile killing of a UNC-Wilmington student by her former boyfriend was just one of 22 domestic violence-related killings recorded this year by the N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

"We are doing the right thing," said Rep. Wilma Sherrill, a Buncombe County Republican, who co-sponsored the bill. "This is an epidemic."

At least 2,000 abusers get treatment outside the prison system each year through programs overseen by the N.C. Council for Women and Domestic Violence Commission. Most are sent by judges, who under current law have the option to require them to go.

Albemarle has the only such program available for prison inmates, often the most serious offenders.

Rep. Earline Parmon, a Forsyth County Democrat who was co-chairwoman of the subcommittee on the issue, said research convinced her that abusers could change through treatment. "It became apparent that violence is a learned behavior and that we can concentrate on stopping the violence from happening in the first place," she said.

The Albemarle program has counseled 180 inmates since 2000. It is called STOP - survey, think, options and prevent.

Sandra Huffman, the clinical psychologist who runs STOP, said it teaches abusers to consider other options before acting on violent impulses.

"A lot of these men have a lot going against them," Wood said. "We have to hold them responsible, but we also have to give them ways to change."

Research on the effectiveness of such programs has been inconclusive. A Department of Justice study in 2003 showed little impact from the programs, but other studies show some positive results.

Huffman and Wood agreed that objective research is needed to prove the program works, but both said they saw changes in inmates who finished it.

"You can't say this will really take hold, and no matter what happens to them, they won't do it again," Wood said. "But they have a new way of thinking and acting. There is reason for hope."

Department of Correction officials said they would draw from it when creating programs at other prisons if the bill passes.

Huffman estimated that the Albemarle prison program costs $61,000 per year. Whether each prison will have its own program and at what cost have not been determined. Other prison programs would start in 2005.

"To think about change, you need to think about [the abusers'] perspective," Wood said.