NCJ Number
213041
Journal
Family Violence & Sexual Assault Bulletin Volume: 21 Issue: 2/3 Dated: Summer/Fall 2005 Pages: 11-17
Date Published
2005
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study examined police decisionmaking in partner-violence cases where men claimed to be victims of their women partners and the police worked in jurisdictions with a policy of making arrests in domestic violence cases when officers have a reasonable belief as to which partner was the perpetrator (presumptive arrest).
Abstract
The study found that although a policy of presumptive arrest encourages officers to make an arrest when they have a reasonable belief as to who perpetrated the violence, when officers believed a female partner attacked a male partner they were more likely to issue a citation to the woman than arrest her. When officers believed men were the perpetrators, however, they were more likely to be arrested than be issued a citation. This suggests that officers are more lenient toward women perpetrators of domestic violence, or they are more likely to believe that male victim incited women to attack them. Issuing a citation rather than making an arrest implies to the court that an officer views the offender as being less culpable and dangerous, warranting less severe and restrictive sanctions. The study analyzed 288 domestic-violence cases processed by the Vermont State Police during the 2000 calendar year. The Vermont Incident-Based Reporting System describes incidents in detail, including the victim, offender, and witness testimony and information from incident forms completed by police. The sample of cases was exclusively rural. Cases were distinguished as follows: a female offender and male victim, a male offender and female victim, and both male and female are victim-offenders. The nature of case dispositions were analyzed according to these categories. 2 tables and 17 references