POLICE INTERVENTION AND THE REPEAT OF DOMESTIC ASSAULT |
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| Authors: | RICHARD B FELSON JEFFREY M ACKERMAN CATHERINE A GALLAGHER |
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| Institution: | Professor of Crime, Law, and Justice and of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University. He is currently doing research on domestic violence, race differences in assault, and the response of the criminal justice system to different types of assault. His most recent book, Violence and Gender Reexamined;, was published in 2002 by the American Psychological Association. Assistant professor in the Sociology Department at Texas A&M University. His current research interests include domestic violence, female offending, peer influences on juvenile delinquency, and innovation among substance abuse treatment and prevention organizations.;The faculty of the Justice, Law and Crime Policy Program at George Mason University. Her work focuses on injury recurrence and the health and safety of high risk victims and offenders. Recent publications include an analysis of the effects of medical care on repeat violent injury, the relationship between crowding and violence in juvenile justice facilities, and deaths in custody. She is currently examining the role of the police in accessing medical care for violent injuries. |
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| Abstract: | We use the National Crime Victimization Survey to examine whether domestic violence is less likely to be repeated if it is reported to the police and if the offender is arrested. Our longitudinal analyses suggest that reporting has a fairly strong deterrent effect, whereas the effect of arrest is small and statistically insignificant. We find no support for the hypothesis that offenders retaliate when victims (rather than third parties) call the police or when victims sign complaints. We also find no evidence that the effects of reporting or arrest depend on the seriousness of the offense, a history of violence by the offender or sociodemographic characteristics. Our results suggest that the best policies for deterrence will be those that encourage victims and third parties to report violence by intimate partners to the police. |
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| Keywords: | police domestic assault intervention deterrence reporting arrest |
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