Police-Reporting Behavior and Victim-Police Interactions as Described by Women in a Domestic Violence Shelter

Abstract

Previous research has addressed the motivations of domestic violence victims to contact police and police responses to domestic violence calls. In a study of 498 women who entered a battered women's shelter, a questionnaire was used to elicit types of abuse they experienced, police contact, and police-victim interactions. Approximately 58% of victims called the police in response to physical, emotional, and other forms of domestic abuse; however, less than one fourth of the batterers were arrested. Batterers who physically abused their victims or used other forms of abuse such as sexual abuse or stalking were more frequently arrested compared to those batterers who used emotional abuse. The women arrested for domestic violence felt that they had acted in self-defense. These results suggest that the police response to domestic violence is variable and the majority of batterers, regardless of type of abuse, may not be receiving any legal or therapeutic intervention.

Intimate Partner Violence at the Scene: Incident Characteristics and Implications for Public Health Surveillance

“…The police typically are one of the first and most common responders to IPV victims (Coulter et al 1999), and many calls for assistance are received each day. Given the frequency of interaction between law enforcement officers and IPV victims, adequate training of officers (e.g., the dynamics of IPV, local resources such as battered women's shelters and counseling services) is crucial (Townsend et al 2006).…”

Explaining the Prevalence, Context, and Consequences of Dual Arrest in Intimate Partner Cases

“…(Berk & Loseke, 1980-1981Berk & Newton, 1985;Buzawa & Hotaling, 2000;Stanko, 1985). From their interviews with 498 women in a domestic violence shelter in Florida, Coulter et al (1999) noted that 58% of the victims contacted the police to report some type of domestic abuse but less than one fourth of the offenders were arrested. Earlier Loseke (1980-1981) had found that the probability of an arrest declined significantly when the victim contacted the police, as opposed to a third party.…”

Who do young adult victims of physical assault talk to about their experiences?

“…Women who had been assaulted by the offender previously were less likely to report than those who had never been assaulted by that person before~Bach-man & Coker, 1995!. Some authors report that victims of a known offender or partner are less likely to report than victims of strangers~Block, 1974; Coulter et al, 1999;Fieldman-Summers, 1981;Gartner & MacMillan, 1995;Williams 1984!. Others have shown no effect~Bachman, 1998Bachman, & Coker, 1995;Hindelang, & Gottfredson, 1976;Felson et al, 1999;Skogan, 1976;Zawitz et al, 1993!.…”

“…This is because young victims~especially male victims!, with their low reporting rate, are at greatest risk of assault~Skogan, 1976; Young et al, 1997!. There are consistent findings that the reporting rate increases with assault severitỹ Felson et al, 1999;Schneider, 1976;Skogan, 1976;Williams, 1984;Young et al, 1996!. Assaults with weapons~Bachman, 1998Block, 1974;Hindelang & Gottfredson, 1976;Williams, 1984!, assaults requiring medical attention~Bachman, 1998Bachman & Coker, 1995;Block, 1975;Williams, 1984!, physical abuse rather than emotional abusẽ Coulter et al, 1999;Felson et al, 1999, Hamilton & Coates, 1993; but see Gartner & MacMillan, 1995; who found no effect! and assaults compared to threats~Hindelang & Gottfredson, 1976!…”

“…and50%~Block, 1974;Zawitz, Klaus, Bachman, Bastian, DeBerry, Rand, & Taylor, 1993! for national surveys, and around 60% for women involved with Refuges or Rape Crisis~Coulter, Kuehlne, Byers, & Alfonso, 1999;Williams, 1984!. One problem with comparing rates is that some studies have reported percentage of assaults known to police~e.g., Bachman, 2000;Coulter et al, 1999!, rather than the percentage of assaults actually reported to the police by the victim. As would be expected, the number of assaults reported by victims is lower than the total number of assaults known by the police~Bachman, 1998; Bachman & Coker, 1995;Felson et al, 1999!. Regardless of this variation, however, it is clear that most victims of assaults do not report the assault to police.…”