NCJ Number
177514
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 27 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 1999 Pages: 65-79
Date Published
1999
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The arrest patterns of police officers in domestic assault events were examined in a stratified random sample of police reports of domestic violence incidents in two Boston police districts for calendar year 1993.
Abstract
The analysis focused on 1,000 incidents, which represented approximately 27 percent of the domestic violence incidents in the 2 districts that year. The data set was then reduced to the 668 incidents in which the offender was present when the police arrived. The data were initially analyzed using the chi-square automatic interaction detector, which conducted segmentation modeling useful for identifying interaction effects among a predefined set of variables. The interaction effects were then entered into several logistic regression models to generate odds ratios in the prediction of arrest. Results revealed that the risk to the victim was the most important decision-making criterion for police officers. In addition, police used variable pieces of information in deciding when to make arrests in domestic violence events, based on the different levels of risk. Future research should include the factors of individual officer characteristics and offender demeanor, because these factors were not included in this analysis. These findings also described how arrest patterns might operate, but they did little to explain why. These findings should be a basis for theoretical expansion in this area of police research, leading to further analyses that consider sample subgroup differences. Tables, figure, notes, appended methodological information, and 52 references (Author abstract modified)