Christopher D. Maxwell

Published findings from the Spouse Assault Replication Program: A critical review.

Published reports from seven jointly developed experiments have addressed whether or not arrest is an effective deterrent to misdemeanor spouse assault. Findings supporting a deterrent effect, no effect, and an escalation effect have been reported by the original authors and in interpretations of the published findings by other authors. This review found many methodologically defensible approaches used in these reports but not one of these approaches was used consistently in all published reports. Tables reporting the raw data on the prevalence and incidence of repeat incidents are presented to provide a more consistent comparison across all seven experiments. This review concludes that the available information is incomplete and inadequate for a definitive statement about the results of these experiments. Researchers and policy makers are urged to use caution in interpreting the findings available to date.

The Rape Tax Tangible and Intangible Costs of Sexual Violence

This study examines the justice systems decision that sexual violence, particularly rape, is not an economic crime. The authors estimate the tangible and intangible financial costs of sexual violence in Michigan. In 1996, rape and sexual assault cost Michigan more than

Prosecution and Conviction Rates for Intimate Partner Violence

6.5 billion, most of which came in the form of intangible costs. Sex-offense homicide cost more than

What Are the Lessons of the Police Arrest Studies

18 million, two thirds of which was intangible costs. If divided equallyas a “rape tax,” each resident of Michigan would have paid nearly

Experiencing and Witnessing Familial Aggression and their Relationship to Physically Aggressive Behaviors among Filipino Adolescents

700 in 1996 to cover the cost of sexual violence. The implication is that prevention is the best way to reduce the high cost of sexual violence. Furthermore, rape and sexual assault need to be identified as a public health issue to raise awareness about sexual violence. Finally, courts and prosecutors need to think about sexual violence as an economic crime to better protect victims and survivors of sexual violence.

An Examination of Whether Coordinated Community Responses Affect Intimate Partner Violence

The prosecution of intimate partner violence is thought to be infrequent, as is the rate at which those prosecutions result in a criminal conviction. The paucity of prosecutorial and court response to intimate partner violence is considered one of the inadequacies of the justice system, an indicator of societys inattentiveness to violence against women, and another reason to question the criminal justice systems ability to successfully address violence between intimate partners. Our review of 135 English language studies leads us to challenge the widely accepted notion that prosecution and conviction for this offense are infrequent. There is great variability in the reported rates of prosecution and conviction for intimate partner violence. These studies report that, on average, about one third of the reported offenses and more than three fifths of arrests result in the filing of charges; more than half of all prosecutions result in a criminal conviction.

Redefining intimate partner violence: women’s experiences with physical violence and non‐physical abuse by age

Abstract The six domestic violence police arrest experiments and several precursor studies stand unique in their research contribution to criminology and public policy. Together, these studies have significantly informed the debate about the deterrent effects of criminal justice sanctions and about the importance of how police can respond effectively to domestic violence. The strong methodological rigor of the six arrest experiments was a notable accomplishment, and set new standards for future criminological research. Early reviews synthesizing many results from the six arrest experiments typically concluded that the deterrent effect of arrest was not significant, however, these reviews generally did not meet the methodological rigor of the five replication experiments. Two recent attempts using different approaches for systematically combining results across multiple studies have concluded that there is a significant deterrent effect from arrest. This finding is variant from early reviews. Based upon data gathered from victim interviews, these two studies suggest that contemporary policies requiring preferred or mandatory arrest may be providing protection for victims though there is little change in the prevalence of police response over time. These studies have also taught us that methodological rigor is required throughout the scientific process, and not just during the data collection and analysis stages. The authors conclude that for several reasons there will likely be no further research testing for the effect of arrest on domestic violence and that current debate concerning how other aspects of the criminal justice system should respond to domestic violence seems less willing to be informed by the rigorous research and experimentation.

The crime control effects of criminal sanctions for intimate partner violence

The effects of family violence on children’s aggressive behaviors have been the focus of much research. However, results have been equivocal in at least the following three areas: (a) the specific effects on aggression of child-directed violence versus child-witnessed violence, (b) the salience of family violence as an explanation of aggression when other theoretically relevant explanations of aggression are controlled (i.e., peers, attachments, or moral beliefs), and(c) the gender-specific effects of family violence. Using a probability sample of adolescents from a medium-sized city in the Philippines, this article assesses the effects of child-directed and child-witnessed violence between parents on aggressive behaviors of adolescents while controlling for theoretically relevant explanations of aggression. Results show that child-witnessed and child-directed violence are positively and significantly related to self-reported aggression, that child-witnessed violence accounts for most of the variance in adolescent aggression, and that neither measures of family violence interacts with gender.

Research in Geographic Profiling: Remarks from the Guest Editors

This study tests the impact of coordinated community response (CCR) on reducing intimate partner violence (IPV) and on modifying knowledge and attitudes. The authors conduct hierarchical linear modeling of data from a stratified random-digit dial telephone survey (n = 12,039) in 10 test and 10 control sites, which include 23 counties from different regions in the United States, to establish the impact of a CCR on community members’ attitudes toward IPV, knowledge and use of available IPV services, and prevalence of IPV. Findings indicate that CCRs do not affect knowledge, beliefs, or attitudes of IPV, knowledge and use of available IPV services, nor risk of exposure to IPV after controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, income, and education. Women in communities with 6-year CCRs (as opposed to 3-year CCRs) are less likely to report any aggression against them in the past year. These results are discussed within the context of evaluation challenges of CCRs (e.g., IPV activities in comparison communities, variability across interventions, time lag for expected impact, and appropriateness of outcome indicators) and in light of the evidence of the impact of other community-based collaborations.

Collective Efficacy and Violence in Chicago Neighborhoods: A Reproduction

This study examines the relationship between age, physical violence and non‐physical abuse within the context of intimate partner violence (IPV). It tests the hypothesis that while the prevalence of physical violence is lower among older women, other forms of intimate partner violence are not related to age. The study uses data from the Michigan Violence Against Women Survey to measure physical violence and two forms of non‐physical abuse: psychological vulnerability and autonomy‐limiting behavior. Findings support the hypothesis that the rate of physical abuse is negatively related to age but the rate of nonphysical abuse is not. By expanding the definition of IPV to include other forms of abusive behavior, the study finds that older women have IPV prevalence rates similar to younger women. This raises the question of whether batterers alter their means of power and control by emphasizing non‐physical abuse rather than continuing to use physical violence that exposes them to formal and informal social controls and sanctions.