J. David Hirschel

Abused Women Help-Seeking Strategies and Police Utilization

This article describes the multiple efforts made by abused women to seek help. Based on detailed interviews with 419 abused women, the analysis shows that only a very small number have failed to seek assistance. Most of the women have used a variety of sources, including lawyers, counselors, ministers, magistrates, shelters, and, most often, the police. Demographic analysis shows that relationship is the strongest and most consistent predictor of help seeking; married women use available services far more than do cohabitants. Other demographic characteristics emerge as mixed or marginal predictors of help seeking. Agencies oriented to providing services to abused women should be particularly attuned to those who might be underserved.

The Failure of Arrest to Deter Spouse Abuse

In this article the authors present the results of an experiment conducted to test the relative effectiveness of three police responses to spouse abuse: (a) advising, and possibly separating the couple; (b) issuing a citation to the offender; and (c) arresting the offender. Cases that met specified eligibility criteria were randomly assigned to one of the three treatments and were then tracked for a period of at least 6 months to discern whether recidivism had occurred. Measures of recidivism were obtained through use of both official police records and victim interviews. Analysis of prevalence, incidence, and time to failure rates indicated that arrest was no more effective than the other two treatments at deterring subsequent abuse.

Understanding the Context of Dual Arrest With Directions for Future Research

Arrest rates for intimate partner violence have increased dramatically since the implementation of preferred and mandatory arrest policies. Of concern has been the increase in the percentage of cases in which both parties in an incident have been arrested. This article examines the current research on dual arrests and the deficiencies of that research, argues that dual arrest should not be examined in a vacuum but should be placed in a broader context taking into account both the full range of police options and comparisons of police action in intimate partner violence cases to the responses to other domestic and nondomestic incidents, and outlines an agenda for future research.

A Comparison of the Police Response to Heterosexual Versus Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence

It has been argued that the police do not respond to domestic calls involving same-sex couples in the same manner as they respond to calls involving heterosexual couples. A major problem facing researchers examining the police response to cases involving same-sex couples has been the lack of adequately sized samples. In this article, the authors utilize the 2000 National Incident Based Reporting System database, which contains 176,488 intimate partner assaults and intimidation incidents reported to 2,819 police departments in 19 states. The key issue examined is whether similar cases involving same-sex and heterosexual couples result in the same police response.

The Relative Effects of Offense, Offender, and Victim Variables on the Decision to Prosecute Domestic Violence Cases

Traditionally, even when the police have arrested suspected spouse abusers, prosecutors have been reluctant to follow through with prosecution. Using a sample of 424 cases in which abusers were either arrested on the scene or issued citations for court appearance, this research study investigates whether characteristics surrounding the offense (such as cause of the argument and victim injury), offender characteristics (such as prior record and substance abuse), or victim characteristics (such as relationship with the offender and substance abuse) most impact the prosecutions decision to prosecute. The policy implications of the findings are also discussed.

The effects of children's presence on woman abuse.

The association between the presence of children and woman abuse was investigated. Data were collected from 419 women who had called the police because of an abusive incident involving their male partner. Minor children were present in the home in 3/4 of the cases and were frequent witnesses to the abusive incident. In more than 1/2 of the cases, children had witnessed the assault according to the victims; 2/3 of the victims reported that children had seen the police when they arrived. There was almost no association between the presence of children in the home and assault on women: the presence of children was not associated with cumulative incidence of abuse, severity of abuse, degree of injury, or the victim’s decision-making process in calling the police. However, police were more likely to provide information and referrals to shelters when children were present.

The Interrelationship Between Substance Abuse and the Likelihood of Arrest, Conviction, and Re-offending in Cases of Intimate Partner Violence

The nexus between substance abuse and intimate partner violence has been studied in depth. The interrelationship between substance abuse, intimate partner violence, and the criminal justice system response and subsequent offending has not received as much attention. In this article, the authors examine the impact of substance abuse on the likelihood of an officer’s decision to make an arrest, conviction in that case, and subsequent re-offending. The authors find that while official decision-making remains unaffected by the fact that the offender has been drinking and/or using drugs, substance abuse and subsequent re-offending are inextricably interlinked. These findings highlight the need to screen domestic violence offenders for alcohol/drug abuse, and provide offenders manifesting these problems with alcohol/drug treatment in addition to batterer treatment.

Juvenile Curfews and Race: A Cautionary Note

During the 1990s, the United States experienced a rise in the popularity of nocturnal juvenile curfews as a method of crime prevention. Prior research has not, however, found curfews to be particularly effective in achieving their goals, and concerns have been raised about discriminatory enforcement. In this article we examine the implementation of a juvenile curfew in a large southern city, Charlotte, North Carolina, and investigate its impact on different racial groups. The background characteristics of curfew violators were found to mirror those of juvenile offenders in general, and different types of violators were cited in different areas of town. However, although the curfew had a positive or at least a neutral effect on some offenders, it had an escalation effect on Asian and Hispanic youth. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Unraveling the Relative Contributions of His, Her, and Their Drinking to the Likelihood of Arrest in Intimate Partner Violence Cases

The nexus between substance abuse and intimate partner violence has been studied in depth. The interrelationship between drinking, intimate partner violence, and an officer’s decision to make an arrest has not received as much attention. The issue is complicated by the fact that either or both of the involved parties may have been drinking and the effects may vary depending on who has been drinking. In this article, the authors examine the relative contributions of his, her, and their drinking to the likelihood of arrest.

Severity of injury and the decision to arrest in cases of intimate partner violence

From a victims physical health perspective, at the centre of any case of intimate partner violence (IPV) is the degree of trauma imparted on that victim by the offender. Yet, the implementations of state-level ‘Mandatory Arrest’ and ‘Preferred Arrest’ laws encourage arrests decisions in cases of IPV typically without regard to the level of trauma severity found in each case. And, despite these well-meaning implementations and the gravity of their consequences, the importance of evaluating trauma severity in victims of IPV remains largely overlooked. The goal of this study was to correlate police arrest decisions in cases of IPV to a trauma severity score generated from established clinical protocols in the treatment of trauma. A Trauma Severity Quantification Table (TSQT) was created in order to quantify the major factors of an incident of IPV: anatomical location of attack, method of attack, facilitating weapon/object and resulting trauma. A total of 256 cases of IPV reported to six police departments in Idaho, a state with a discretionary arrest law in domestic violence cases, in the calendar year 2000 were processed using the TSQT. A statistically significant difference was found between arrests (mean 17.96, standard deviation [SD] 5.90) versus no arrest (mean 16.13, SD 5.67) outcomes (P = 0.03). It is suggested that trauma severity is a factor in police arrest decisions in a discretionary state sample, but that more attention needs to be brought to this method of analysis and its implications for future arrest decisions.