警察干预家庭暴力问题研究

家庭暴力是一个全球性的问题。20世纪70年代以来,国际妇女运动关注家庭暴力时,警察的责任同时被提出。现阶段,我国警察干预家庭暴力的实践仍处于探索阶段,存在着立法缺失、执法思想陈旧等方面的问题。当前,全国妇联正会同公安部等九个部委,拟推出《关于预防和制止家庭暴力的若干意见》,将为警方参与预防和制止家庭暴力提供政策依据。在此形势下,加强对警察干预家庭暴力实践与理论的研究,构建警察干预家庭暴力的有效模式,成为一个迫切而必要的课题。     

国家干预家庭暴力的限度研究

鉴于家庭自治的局限性和私权与公共利益保护的迫切需要,国家干预家庭暴力有其必要性和正当性。目前国家干预家庭暴力的态度积极,但是部分干预方式差强人意。国家干预家庭暴力必须保证婚姻家庭内部规则的有效运行,应当秉承切忌法律万能论、尊重家庭自治和适当注意的基本原则,其具体干预方式包括但不限于维持家庭内部秩序、建立家庭自治的约束机制和适当增加强制性措施等。作为国家干预家庭暴力的典型例证,《反家庭暴力法》必须尊重家庭内部规则,建立家庭自治的约束机制,确保国家干预家庭暴力的适时性和有限性,这是《反家庭暴力法》有效运行的基本途径。     

警察介入家庭暴力法律制度之完善

家庭暴力法律规制问题,涉及到公权和私权的平衡问题,涉及到法律规制的方式方法等问题,涉及到介入主体的安排和权限等问题。我国反家庭暴力在法制上存在明显的缺失与不足,缺乏一部统一的家庭暴力防治法来规范警察介入家庭暴力,现有条文缺少程序法的相关规制,法律救济制度欠完善,警察介入家庭暴力缺乏可靠的法律依据。通过对当前法律体系的反思,笔者提出了一系列完善我国警察介入家庭暴力的法律制度构想,包括制定一部统一完整的《家庭暴力防治法》,健全相关民事和刑事法律制度以及相关配套保障机制等。根治家庭暴力、完善相关法律制度将是一个长期、复杂的历史过程。     

论警务战术的理念

理念是学术界目前使用频率较高的一个概念。为了揭示警务战术理念的内涵,从词源学的角度分析了理念的含义。警务战术理念是对警务战术内在规律的认识的集中体现,同时也是对警务战术的看法和持有的基本的态度和观念,并通过警务战术的目标、要求、原则来实现。警务战术的目标就是为了实现执法安全,包括执法安全意识和警务程序意识两方面。警察战术原则指警察在警务活动中必须依法施策、规范设计;加一评估、防控为先;心态平和、弹性处变。     

私人参与警察任务执行的法理基础

治安承包现象引发的广泛社会争议是我国私人参与警察任务执行改革沉浮的真实写照。对宪法基本政策条款和民主国、法治国及社会国原则的解读显示,私人参与警察任务执行并不违反我国宪法文本规定和宪法基本原理。“国家和社会”条款在行政法律规范中频频出现以及行政法上辅助性原则、行政过程论的阐释表明,私人参与警察任务执行同样具备合法性基础。我国政法工作一以贯之的群众路线和警察任务的时代流变,彰显出私人参与警察任务执行具有深厚的社会历史及现实基础。从改革时机选择、行政法制保障和后续政府规制上看,私人参与警察任务执行在我国依旧是一个极具挑战性的行政法前沿课题。     

宪政视野下的中国警察法治建设

随着国内外法治环境的变幻,中国的警察法治建设在不断取得进步的同时也遭遇了前所未有的挑战,同时也面临着诸多变革的契机。从宪政的视域出发,通过系统分析中国警察法治建设过程中的“双重困境”,以此提出中国警察法治建设的应对之策,包括改革警察管理体制、设立警察权配置和行使的基本原则、从实体和程序两个层面控制警察权、完善监督机制以及落实警察责任。     

警察武力之善法良治——论警察武力法的正义价值标准

警察武力法的正义价值标准由标示正义价值方向的基本理念和标示正义价值尺度的基本原则两项基本要件分级承担并贯彻。中国警察武力法有:社会正义与法律正义有机统一、保权与控权有机统一和价值、规范、事实有机统一三个居位"法上之法"的基本理念和危害行为与武力行为法定、危害行为与武力行为相当、武力行为克减和多样化和正当程序四个居位"法上之法"的基本原则。上述基本理念和基本原则,对系统理解、把握中国警察使用武力的基本原则和构成要件、各种规范的内在关连性,以及构思未来的、"应然"的中国警察武力立法具有不可或缺的重要意义。     

《家庭暴力防治法》立法建构的思考

家庭暴力已经成为全球性的社会问题,如何有效地预防和解决这种社会现象成为我国面临的重大课题,制定一部专门的《家庭暴力防治法》应是解决这一问题的根本举措.我国的《家庭暴力防治法》应坚持国家的有限干预、意思自治、综合防治三大原则,从民事、行政、刑事三大方面建构我国的家庭暴力防治法.     

论警察出庭作证培训--一个值得关注的问题

随着我国刑事庭审制度改革的进一步深化,警察出庭作证已成为一种必然的要求.但就我国目前的情况看,警察出庭作证尚属新生事物,尚限于个案;多数警察从心理上尚未完全接受、更未能积极适应这一发展,一旦以证人身份走上法庭必将面临种种问题,为此应未雨绸缪,结合警察队伍的现状,从明确出庭身份、了解出庭程序、掌握基本技巧、注意特殊问题等方面内容入手,采用理念灌输、模拟庭审演练的方式,逐步开展与加强对警察出庭作证的培训.     

现代侦查的法治原则

现代侦查是法治侦查，应遵循刑事法治、程序法治和警察法治的一些基本原则。其中，适用于宪法和基本法律的一般性原则包括：罪刑法定原则、无罪推定原则、程序法定原则、司法审查原则、比例原则等；适用于侦查程序和侦查活动的具体性原则包括：任意侦查原则、强制侦查法定原则、适度公开原则、侦查有效原则等。     

Police attitudes toward domestic violence offenders

Police attitudes are important in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort in women seeking justice-system support for protection from partner violence. This study examined police attitudes toward sanctions and treatment for domestic violence offenders compared with other violent and nonviolent offenders. In addition, police attitudes toward domestic violence offenders who do and do not use substances were examined. Officers from one city police department (n = 315) participated in a survey. Results indicate there is a trend toward attitudes that treatment, rather than sanctions, was more appropriate for domestic violence offenders. In addition, officers rated the use of sanctions higher for domestic violence offenders who abuse alcohol or drugs compared with domestic violence offenders who did not abuse alcohol or drugs. Understanding police attitudes toward domestic violence offenders may have implications for police training and victim services in facilitating the use of the justice system in protecting women from partner violence.     

A ‘double edged sword’: discretion and compulsion in policing domestic violence

Policing domestic violence is a complex area in which there are divergent views about the extent to which front line police action should be mandated by legislation and guidance. This study set in Victoria, Australia raised questions about the balance between discretion and compulsion in policing domestic violence through researching the implementation of the Code of Practice used to respond to domestic violence incidents. The project team interrogated aggregate data from the police database on family violence and also interviewed 125 police members (60 sergeants and 65 constables) to explore the attitudes to the Code of Practice and policing domestic violence. The findings reveal that discretion within a range of options is circumscribed. Variable understandings of the nature of domestic violence and the role of risk assessment and management suggest that constrained and guided discretion may be required to achieve optimum effectiveness in policing responses to domestic violence.     

REASONS FOR REPORTING AND NOT REPORTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO THE POLICE*

The National Crime Victimization Survey is used to examine factors that encourage and inhibit victims of domestic violence from calling the police. Victims of domestic violence are less likely than victims of other types of violence to call the police because of their privacy concerns, their fear of reprisal, and their desire to protect offenders, but they are more likely to call for self‐protection and because they perceive domestic assaults as more serious. As a result of these and other offsetting factors, victims of domestic violence are just as likely as other victims of assault to call the police.     

Attitudes toward police response to domestic violence: a comparison of Chinese and American college students

Domestic violence has emerged as a worldwide concern since the 1970s. Although a substantial amount of efforts have been devoted to assessing various aspects of domestic violence, a relatively small number of studies have empirically examined factors that shape public attitudes toward police response to such incidents. Even rarer is investigating the topic from an international, comparative perspective. Based on survey data gathered from approximately 550 college students in China and the United States, this study analyzes the effects of background characteristics, personal and vicarious experiences of crime, and perceptions of gender roles and violence on attitudes toward proactive and traditional police response to domestic violence. Compared to their American counterparts, Chinese students were less likely to favor proactive response and more likely to support traditional response. Chinese and American students' attitudes toward police response to domestic violence were shaped by some different and common factors. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

Police response to domestic violence: making decisions about risk and risk management

Assessing and responding to risk are key elements in how police respond to domestic violence. However, relatively little is known about the way police make judgments about the risks associated with domestic violence and how these judgments influence their actions. This study examines police decisions about risk in domestic violence incidents when using a risk assessment instrument. Based on a sample of 501 risk assessments completed by police in Australia, this study shows that a limited number of items on the risk assessment instrument are important in police officers' decisions about risk. Statistical analyses show that the victim's level of fear contributes to police officers' judgment on the level of risk and their decisions on which risk management strategy should be used. These findings suggest that research on police responses to domestic violence needs to pay greater attention to situational dynamics and the task requirements of risk-based decision making.     

Theorizing police response to domestic violence in the Singaporean context: Police subculture revisited

This article focuses on the well documented, yet potentially contested concept of rank-and-file police subculture to conceptualize police response to situations of domestic violence in Singapore. It argues that the utility of the concept to explaining police behavior is often undermined by an all-powerful, homogenous, and deterministic conception of it that fails to take into account the value of agency in police decision-making and the range of differentiated police response in situations of domestic violence. Through reviewing the literature on police response to domestic violence, this study called for the need to rework the concept of police subculture by treating it as having a relationship with, and response to, the structural conditions of policing, while retaining a conception of the active role played by street-level officers in instituting a situational practice. Using Pierre Bourdieu's relational concepts of ‘habitus’ and ‘field,’ designating the cultural dispositions of police subculture and structural conditions of policing respectively, the study attempted to reconceptualize the problem of policing domestic violence with reference to the Singaporean context.     

Children's experiences of domestic violence: developing an integrated response from police and child protection services

Police notifications of incidents of domestic violence to child protection services constitute an acknowledgement of the harm that domestic violence inflicts on children. However, these notifications represent a substantial demand on child welfare services and the outcomes for children and victims of domestic violence have been questioned. This paper presents findings from the first UK study to examine these notifications in depth and examines the interface between the police and child protection services in responding to domestic violence incidents. The research reports on police interventions in 251 incidents of domestic violence involving children; the communication of information to child protection services and the subsequent filtering and service response. Social workers found that notifications conveyed little information on children's experiences of domestic violence. Forty per cent of families notified had had no previous contact with child protection services in that area, but those cases most likely to receive social work assessment or intervention were those where the case was already open. Notifications triggered a new social work intervention in only 5% of cases. The study also identified a range of innovative approaches for improving the co-ordination of police and child protective services in relation to children's exposure to domestic violence. Arrangements that maximized opportunities for police and social workers to share agency information appeared to offer the best option for achieving informed decisions about the appropriate level of service response to children and families experiencing domestic violence.     

Reversing the historical tide of iatrogenic harm: A therapeutic jurisprudence analysis of increases in arrests of domestic batterers and rapists

Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) proposes that the law is a social force that can heal or cause harm to parties in a legal action. Historically, women victims of intimate partner rape and domestic violence could not seek justice in the legal system because police, like other actors in the justice system, treated these offenses as private matters or fabrications. In domestic violence and intimate rape cases, TJ is concerned with the needs of the victims, and how the law and police play a role in increasing their well-being. In this article, we use a TJ approach to the study of police responsiveness to victims of these offenses by investigating arrests of the offenders pursuant to law reforms that encourage or mandate arrest. Given that in these offenses, victims have the lowest reporting rates of any violent crime, the victim decision to call the police represents an expectation that the mere physical presence of a police officer may redefine the nature of the violence from a private conflict to a societal wrong that will not be tolerated. Police partnership with and treatment of the victim with respect and dignity can change the dynamics of the violence, terminate the violence, and set the criminal justice process in motion by arresting the offender in most cases. Police arrest, and subsequent prosecution and conviction, sends a message to offenders that society does not tolerate their violence, and allows the victim to begin to heal. Yet, past research indicates that police are less likely to arrest intimates than acquaintances and strangers in misdemeanor and aggravated assault, rape, and sexual assault cases. Using the National Incidence Reporting System (NIBRS) for the year 2000, we examine police arrests of intimate partner rape and domestic violence in jurisdictions with mandatory and presumptive arrest policies compared to police arrests in full discretion jurisdictions. We also ascertain whether arrest rates are higher for strangers and acquaintances than for intimates in misdemeanor and aggravated assault, kidnapping, and rape and sexual assault. Third, we determine whether police arrests of intimate partner rape is more likely if there is evidence of violence, injury to the victim, and use of a weapon. Our multivariate findings suggest that both the rape and the domestic violence reform movements have reversed the tide of historical negative treatment of female victims of these offenses. Logistic regression analysis indicates that police agencies in mandatory and preferred arrest jurisdictions increase the odds of arrest for domestic violence incidents and violations of orders of protection, compared to police agencies in jurisdictions with permissive/discretionary arrest policies. In addition, intimate violence increases the odds of arrest by 98%; forcible rape accompanied by simple assault or kidnapping increases the odds of arrest by 467 and 222%, respectively whereas forcible fondling accompanied by simple assault increases the odds of arrest by 293%. We discuss the implications of our findings for future law reform as well as TJ.     

Preferences for Police Response to Domestic Violence: A Comparison of College Students in Three Chinese Societies

While a large amount of research has been conducted in the West on domestic violence related issues, only a small number of studies have focused specifically on Chinese societies. Using survey data collected from Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei, this study compares college students’ preferences for traditional and proactive police intervention into domestic violence and assesses the determinants of such preferences in the three Chinese societies. The findings indicate that Hong Kong students showed the highest level of support for traditional police response, followed by students in Beijing and Taipei, while students in Taipei displayed the strongest preference for proactive police response, followed by students in Hong Kong and Beijing. College students’ preferences for traditional police response were shaped mainly by their locality, whereas their preferences for proactive police intervention were influenced chiefly by their attitudes toward violence and gender roles. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Black and Blue Bloods: Protecting Police Officer Families from Domestic Violence

Officer‐involved domestic violence (OIDV) is a national problem, with police officer families having higher rates of domestic violence than non–police officer families. OIDV is also an underresearched problem with few studies or proposed solutions. Many victims of OIDV do not report their abuse precisely because their abuser is a police officer, whom they fear is in a unique position to protect him/herself from any legal consequences. Often, OIDV complaints are not investigated properly in a nonbiased manner. While a handful of police agencies around the country have developed specific policies and procedures to deal with OIDV, Washington State has enacted legislation that requires its police agencies to adopt OIDV‐specific policies. The International Associations of Chiefs of Police (IACP), an organization that addresses various issues confronting law enforcement, has also developed a model policy on OIDV. This Note proposes that, in light of the Washington legislation and the model policy proposed by the IACP, each state should enact a statute that requires its police agencies to develop policies on OIDV. This Note also outlines a specific set of procedures that such statutes should, at a minimum, require its police agencies to adopt, ranging from educating police officers on domestic violence to developing guidelines on responding to and investigating OIDV complaints.