NCJ Number
205218
Date Published
March 2003
Length
75 pages
Annotation
This document examines rates of re-arrest for defendants in domestic violence cases in New York City.
Abstract
This study aimed to determine whether case outcomes and criminal sanctions, such as conviction and jail sentences, affected re-arrest rates. It also examined how prosecutorial case screening policies affect re-arrest rates. The data were drawn primarily from the New York City Criminal Justice Agency database. This database contains information about the arrest, case processing, and case outcomes of most New York City arrestees. This report is based on analyses of the Third Quarter 1998 Dataset, which consists of data collected on a 3 month cohort of arrests made from July 1, 1998, through September 30, 1998. The first hypothesis was that defendants in domestic violence cases with more severe case outcomes and criminal sanctions would have lower rates of re-arrest for domestic violence offenses. The second hypothesis was that arrestees whose domestic violence cases were declined for prosecution would have higher rates of re-arrest for domestic violence offenses than those whose cases were prosecuted. There was no support for the first hypothesis. Re-arrest rates were actually higher for defendants whose cases had more severe outcomes. There was little support for the second hypothesis. The re-arrest rate for cases declined for prosecution of significant numbers of cases was 18 percent compared to 14 percent for cases that were dismissed. The factors that did affect re-arrest rates were weak community ties and serious criminal history. Implications for policy and practice include: (1) tailoring different criminal justice interventions for different types of offenders; and (2) goals other than deterrence may be appropriate in domestic violence cases. 5 tables, 40 references, 3 appendices