NCJ Number
85221
Date Published
1981
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the inept efforts of police agencies in dealing with domestic violence cases and identifies legislative inadequacies contributing to the problem.
Abstract
The police are the most important component of the criminal justice system's response to wife abuse incidents because they are the organization providing life-saving protection 24 hours a day. However, most police agencies fail in dealing with such social conflict situations. Police are reluctant to make arrests at the scene of a family disturbance; even when a charge is filed by the abused spouse, police note that it is usually dropped hours later. Officers frequently see wife abuse as a repetitive problem which cannot be solved by police intervention alone. Although police officers do not have the technical training or formal education to solve most domestic disputes, they can provide the victim with a reference listing of all local organizations providing services to battered women. In addition, criminal law statutes should be changed to recognize wife abuse as a separate offense category. At present, police records charge such incidents as assault, homicide, or domestic disturbance, and the true extent of the problem thus remains undocumented. Footnotes and 16 references are included.