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When Abuse Happens Again: Women's Reasons for Not Reporting New Incidents of Intimate Partner Abuse to Law Enforcement |
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| Authors: | Angela R Gover Courtney Welton-Mitchell Joanne Belknap Anne P Deprince |
| Institution: | 1. School of Public Affairs , University of Colorado Denver , Denver , Colorado , USA Angela.Gover@Ucdenver.edu;3. Graduate School of Professional Psychology , University of Denver , Denver , Colorado , USA;4. Department of Sociology , University of Colorado Boulder , Boulder , Colorado , USA;5. Department of Psychology , University of Denver , Denver , Colorado , USA |
| Abstract: | Although most women abused by intimate partners experience a patterned behavior of abuse (by either the same or new partners), little is known about their decision making regarding whether to call the police for subsequent abuse. The current study found that 90 percent of women who had encountered the criminal legal system for previous intimate partner abuse victimizations did not contact the police for some or all recurrences. Qualitative analysis was conducted among a sample of 102 women regarding their reasons for not re-engaging the legal system for subsequent victimizations. The results suggested 5 overall reasons as to why women involved with the criminal legal system choose not to engage the system again. |
| Keywords: | criminal legal system intimate partner abuse law enforcement official reporting |