Domestic Violence and Children's Presence: A Population-Based Study of Law Enforcement Surveillance of Domestic Violence

• NCJ Number: 219729
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 22 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2007 Pages: 331-340
• Author(s): John W. Fantuzzo; Rachel A. Fusco; Wanda K. Mohr; Marlo A. Perry
• Date Published: August 2007
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study tested whether law enforcement officers could reliably use a standard protocol to collect data on domestic violence events (DVEs) in a large municipality and then use these data to determine the prevalence and nature of the violence in the presence of children in the home.

Abstract

The study found that trained police officers could act effectively as sentinels in a comprehensive public health surveillance system for children exposed to domestic violence. By documenting the specifics of DVEs, the presence of children, and other known risk factors across an entire municipality, police officer can assist in advancing an understanding of children exposed to domestic violence and contribute to community action on behalf of these children. Data were reliably collected on approximately 5,000 substantiated DVEs. The data show that 48 percent of all assaults in the municipality were DVEs. Victims were predominantly women in their early 30s, and injuries were mostly minor and resulted from body contact. Children were present in nearly 50 percent of the DVEs, and they were disproportionately present in households were domestic violence occurred compared to all other households in the municipality. The DVEs in which children were present were more likely to involve violence against their mothers by their fathers. These were disproportionately minority households headed by single females in relatively poor neighborhoods. Study data were obtained from the domestic violence database of a large county police department in the Northeast. Information was examined for all DVEs substantiated by law enforcement investigation from 1999-2001. Officers used the Domestic Violence Event Protocol (DVEP), which is a standard data collection protocol used by police officers in order to identify key features of DVEs. Officers were trained in using the DVEP through vignettes and simulations. 3 tables and 38 references