Influence of Legal Reform on the Probability of Arrest in Domestic Violence Cases

• NCJ Number: 215815
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 23 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 297-316
• Author(s): Sally S. Simpson; Leana Allen Bouffard; Joel Garner; Laura Hickman
• Date Published: September 2006
• Length: 20 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined whether domestic violence arrests increased as a result of legislation implemented in 1994 in Maryland.

Abstract

Results indicated an increase in both the number of domestic violence incidents reported to police and the percent of reported incidents resulting in an arrest. Moreover, the legislation had a positive impact on domestic violence arrest likelihood above and beyond the arrest increases observed over time for the State as a whole. Other results revealed that the legislation did not result in disproportionate arrests on the basis of race or gender. Across the State, males were more likely to be arrested for domestic violence related offenses both before and after the legislation took effect. The findings suggest that expanding police powers to arrest in domestic violence incidents does not necessarily impact women more than men. It appears that police are generally using arrest more frequently and that the legislative initiatives have had the impact policymakers intended. Data were drawn from Maryland’s Battered Spouse Report for the years 1991 through 1997. The Battered Spouse Report is a report similar to the Uniform Crime Reports; it contains information about spousal assault incidents and offers details about the characteristics of offenders and victims, the degree of injury, and the circumstances surrounding the incident. The authors used interrupted time-series analysis (ARIMA) to assess the impact of the 1994 legislation on the 147,712 domestic violence incidents contained in the Battered Spouse Reports, with a focus on whether arrests increased following the implementation of the legislation and on whether the arrests were uniform across the race and gender of offenders. Future research should explore how police officers’ perceptions of domestic violence cases changed as a result of the legislation. Figures, tables, footnotes, references