A Comparison of Men and Women Arrested for Domestic Violence: Who Presents the Greater Threat?

Recent increases in the number of women arrested for domestic violence raise important questions about implementation of proarrest policies, equivalency of intimate partner aggression across genders, and management of female domestic violence offenders. This study compares demographic characteristics, criminal history variables, and the past domestic violence history of men (n = 5,578) and women (n = 1,126) arrested for domestic assault against a heterosexual intimate partner. Using victim reported information and data collected by local criminal justice agencies, we found that female arrestees were significantly less likely than males to have histories that warrant concern regarding the potential for future violence. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

A meta-analytic review of court-mandated batterer intervention programs: Can courts affect abusers’ behavior?

Court-mandated batterer intervention programs are being implemented throughout the United States to address the problem of domestic violence. Prior reviews of research on the effectiveness of these programs have arrived at conflicting conclusions. This study is a systematic review of the extant research on this topic. Experimental and quasi-experimental studies that used matching or statistical controls were included. The results were mixed. The mean effect for official reports of domestic violence from experimental studies showed modest benefit, whereas the mean effect for victim reported outcomes was zero. Quasi-experimental studies using a no-treatment comparison had inconsistent findings indicating an overall small harmful effect. In contract, quasi-experimental studies using a treatment dropout design showed a large, positive mean effect on domestic violence outcomes. We discuss the weakness of the latter design and raise concerns regarding official reports. The findings, we believe, raise doubts about the effectiveness of court-mandated batterer intervention programs.     

Single Types of Family Violence Victimization and Externalizing Behaviors Among Children and Adolescents

Prior research has provided substantial evidence that child maltreatment and exposure to physical intimate partner violence (IPV) are associated with increased externalizing behavior problems among children and adolescents. However, little is known about the effects of exposure to psychological IPV and exposure to the physical abuse of a sibling. Using a total sample (N = 2,572) and subsample (n = 441) of children ages 3–18 years old, the purpose of this study was to assess whether cumulative types of family violence lead to higher mean externalizing behavior scores and to examine the effects of single types of indirect and direct family violence on children’s mean externalizing behavior scores. Results confirmed that children who experienced any type of family violence victimization had higher mean externalizing behavior scores compared to children with no history of family violence; however, few differences in externalizing behavior scores were found as the number of family violence types increased. Children who experienced indirect types of family violence (e.g., exposure to the physical abuse of a sibling) had higher externalizing behavior scores than children who experienced direct maltreatment (e.g., child physical abuse). Findings from this study suggest that researchers and service providers should adopt a broader conceptualization of family violence victimization and increase the amount of services provided to children who are indirectly victimized.     

Collective Litigation and the Constitutional Challenges to Decriminalizing Homosexuality in Singapore

This article examines collective legal mobilization through the courts, or collective litigation, in a non‐liberal regime. It analyses the emergence and development of collective litigation to challenge the constitutionality of section 377A of the Penal Code, the law that criminalizes same‐sex sexual conduct in Singapore. The analysis focuses on the relational dynamics of collective litigation and legal subjectivities of the social actors involved, highlighting how social positions and strategic interests shaped their interactions and decisions on litigation. While gay rights activists emphasized their movement's collective interests when choosing the appropriate case and lawyers, a movement outsider pursued individual interests on behalf of a client. Due to their divergent social positions and strategic interests, the two teams competed with each other as they initiated two separate constitutional challenges. Tension between the teams led to conflict with constituents of the gay rights movement and influenced their relational dynamics with other parties.