Criminal Justice Professionals' Perceptions, Practices and Laws Designed To Deal With Domestic Violence

• NCJ Number: 160864
• Author(s): D Canales-Portalatin; J L Luras
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Michigan State University; Indiana University
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Boston, Mass., November 1995.

Annotation

This study examined criminal justice professionals' perceptions and practices that pertain to partner assaults; an additional aim was to examine the perceptions of these professionals regarding Michigan laws designed to protect victims of partner assault.

Abstract

Out of 65 criminal justice professionals surveyed in a Michigan county, only 37 participated, representing 57 percent of the identified criminal justice professionals in the county. This percentage excluded police officers on duty. Of the 37 respondents, 62 percent were males, and 38 percent were females. Approximately 21 percent were spokespersons for police organizations, 11 percent were judges, 41 percent were assistant prosecutors, and 27 percent were probation officers. The survey was conducted by telephone from November 1993 through July 1994. It contained 39 questions. The first seven questions concerned local programs for assailants and laws related to domestic violence. The next 29 questions were about respondents' opinions and practices regarding the criminal justice system. The final section of the survey consisted of open-ended questions about the resource needs of victims, assailants, and professionals regarding domestic violence. Overall, the survey found that, contrary to previous research, the criminal justice professionals in this sample did not report that partner assault is justifiable under any circumstances. The findings show that criminal justice professionals do generally support restraining orders, having police rather than victims sign partner assault complaints, and police mediation as strategies to deal with partner assault. Results also show that a majority of criminal justice professionals think that community treatment options for batterers that are currently available are inadequate. more than one-half of the respondents think that the criminal justice system as a whole is not effective in dealing with cases of partner assault. Nearly all the respondents reported that increased education and attitude changes on issues of partner assault are needed for criminal justice professionals. Virtually all respondents believed that coordination between the various criminal justice agencies would help improve the effectiveness of the system as a whole with regard to partner assaults. 20 references and 3 tables