Factors that affect the arrest decision in domestic violence cases

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine domestic violence calls for service data in one Florida county for a two-year period from July 2004 through July 2006. Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study include information gathered on domestic violence calls for service during a two-year period (n=3,200). This secondary data were analyzed by logistic regression to determine statistically significant predictor variables. Findings – This study found that severity of crime, presence of children, presence of an injunction, and victim injury increased the likelihood of an arrest. Victim race, location of call, victim alcohol use, and length of relationship did not affect likelihood of arrest. Research limitations/implications – Use of secondary data precluded examination of additional relevant variable information. Practical implications – The research shows clear law violations and seriousness of the acts correlate to an increased likelihood of an arrest. Arrest research should inform police training and policy. Social implications – The research is consistent with other research that shows that law enforcement officers continue to play a significant role in responding to domestic violence crime and suggest that researchers should continue to study arrest practices. In this study, arrest was more likely when factors existed that may have indicated a more serious crime. Originality/value – There is an ongoing need to examine agency-level response to domestic violence. This paper adds to the literature on the law enforcement response to domestic violence. The paper suggests areas for future research.

The police patrols and children experiencing domestic violence

“…Encounters between the police and children who are victims of domestic violence take place daily around the world. Research has found that children are important in regard to whether or not the mothers report the abuse (Novisky & Peralta, 2015), and that the presence of children increases the likelihood of an arrest (Tatum & Pence, 2015). Nevertheless, it is an overlooked aspect of domestic violence and an issue seldom if ever given the recognition it deserves.…”

Use of the ODARA by police officers for intimate partner violence: Implications for practice in the field

“…Often, the tools take time to complete and require information that is not readily available to police or is not easily attainable (Hoyle, 2008;Storey et al, 2014). From a police perspective, training is essential to ensure that police officers are accurately and appropriately implementing risk assessment tools, yet various studies have concluded that training for police officers on IPV generally is limited, let alone training on how to conduct risk assessment within the IPV context (DeJong et al, 2008;Gover et al, 2011;Poon et al, 2014;Robinson et al, 2016;Spivak et al, 2020;Tatum & Pence, 2015). By examining how risk assessment tools are used, guidelines can be implemented to improve their utility (Spivak et al, 2020).…”

“…In the absence of risk assessment tools, police officers used their subjective judgment and experience to assess risk. Police officers most commonly respond to incidents of IPV without a risk assessment tool, instead taking into consideration the characteristics of the incident (Tatum & Pence, 2015;Dawson & Hotton, 2014;Poon et al, 2014;Durfee & Fetzer, 2016;Kane, 1999). These characteristics tend to include situational, offender, and victim factors.…”

“…These characteristics tend to include situational, offender, and victim factors. Much of the literature suggests, for example, that serious assaults resulting in victim injury and incidents involving a weapon have been found to increase the likelihood of arrest (Poon et al, 2014;Dawson & Hotton, 2014;Tatum & Pence, 2015). Prior criminal history is another key determinant in arrest decisions made by police officers in IPV cases (Dawson & Hotton, 2014;Tatum & Pence, 2015;Poon et al, 2014).…”

“…Extra-legal factors also shape police officers' responses to IPV. Police officers, for example, are more likely to make an arrest when a child is present at the scene (Tatum & Pence, 2015). Although the impact of gender and race are less conclusive in the literature, studies have found that women are less likely to be arrested in IPV incidents than men (Johnson & Conners, 2017;Poon et al, 2014), and that Indigenous women are more likely to be arrested than white women (Johnson & Conners, 2017;Poon et al, 2014).…”