Arrest for Domestic and Other Assaults

• NCJ Number: 189945
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 39 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2001 Pages: 655-676
• Author(s): Richard B. Felson; Jeff Ackerman
• Date Published: August 2001
• Length: 22 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study used the National Crime Victimization Survey to examine whether a suspect's relationship to an assault victim affected whether the police made an arrest.

Abstract

At the time of the analysis, the latest available data included incidents from the latter part of 1992 through the first half of 1998 (the concatenated 1992-97 incident level file). The researchers selected incidents that involved threats or actual attacks that were reported to the police and that did not involve robbery, rape, sexual assault, or theft (n=8,516). The analysis restricted attention to victimizations with a single victim and a single suspect (n=5,784). Also excluded were 18 assaults that involved same-sexed couples, because there were too few cases to permit a statistical examination of this subsample. Deletion of missing data reduced the final sample to 4,565 cases of assault. Social relationship was classified as a series of dummy variables: spouses; ex-spouses; other intimates, including current or former boyfriends or girlfriends; other family members; friends; acquaintances; unidentifiable strangers; and identifiable strangers. The study controlled for the demographic characteristics of the victims and antagonists, as well as for special features of the incident. The primary dependent variable was based on the victim's indication of whether the police arrested the suspect. Also examined was whether the victim signed a complaint against the suspect. The findings indicated that in cases of minor assaults, the police were less likely to make an arrest when the suspect was an intimate partner of the victim than when the suspect was an identifiable stranger; however, the police were not as lenient when the suspect was an intimate partner as they were when the suspect was someone else the victim knew. Intimate partner suspects avoided arrest in part because they were less likely to commit their crimes in front of witnesses. In addition, victims who knew the suspect in any way were reluctant to sign complaints, and this reluctance inhibited arrest. Men were less likely than women to sign complaints, particularly when the suspect was a partner. 5 tables and 33 references