The Effect of Arrest On Wife Assault Recidivism

Abstract

Prior research on the effect of arrest on wife assault recidivism had equivocal results and mixed reception. Arrest is not always used in wife assault cases, and several studies suggest that arrest is influenced by incident severity rather than risk of recidivism. The present study examined the effect of arrest controlling for pre-arrest actuarial risk of recidivism, which was measured retrospectively and independently of arrest decision using the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment. In an archival study of 522 wife assault incidents with police attending, arrest was associated with pre-arrest risk for recidivism and with victim injury, incident severity, and other sample characteristics. In multivariate regression and survival analyses, arrest had no overall effect on recidivism but a small beneficial effect in lower risk cases, mostly in terms of a delayed time until recidivism. Arrest of higher risk cases could be increased by police use of a validated tool for risk assessment.

Perpetrator Type Moderates the Relationship Between Severity of Intimate Partner Violence and Recidivism

“…Whereas some studies have found a significant relationship between severity of violence of the arresting event and future risk of IPV (Hilton, Harris, & Rice, 2007;Kingsnorth, 2006;Miller & Krull, 1997), other studies have found this relationship to be statistically nonsignificant with trivial effect sizes. (Harrell & Smith, 1996;Miller & Krull, 1997;Murphy, Musser, & Maton, 1998;Paternoster, Bachman, Brame, & Sherman, 1997).…”

One Size Does Not Fit All in Treatment of Intimate Partner Violence

“…There is some empirical evidence providing support for the notion that the excessive levels of dependency observed in abusive men are associated with insecure attachment in childhood ( Dutton, 1995, Holtzworth-Munroe, Bates, Smutzler, & Sandin, 1997. In a recent paper examining the degree to which attachment dimensions and interpersonal problems predicted IPV posttreatment variables, it was reported that (a) pretreatment attachment anxiety and vindictive interpersonal problems predicted posttreatment mild physical abuse and psychological abuse, (b) pretreatment intrusive interpersonal problems predicted posttreatment psychological abuse, and (c) pretreatment attachment avoidance and vindictive interpersonal problems predicted posttreatment total violence severity (Lawson & Brossart, 2009).…”

Women’s Perceptions of Safety and Risk Following Police Intervention for Intimate Partner Violence

“…When police intervene, they may or may not make an arrest; if they do make an arrest, they may arrest either partner, or both partners, depending on the evidence suggestive of criminal activity. Recent studies have found little to no relationship between arrest of the male partner and reassault (e.g., Felson et al, 2005;Hilton, Harris, & Rice, 2007). This study focused on women who had experienced police intervention because they are likely to have endured severe and/or ongoing violence and because the police contact presents an opportunity to connect victims to a range of health and social services.…”