NCJ Number
122737
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (1989) Pages: 1-21
Date Published
1989
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study tests the following hypotheses regarding the effects of police responses to spouse abuse: compared to no formal police action, arrest produces significantly less recidivism; compared to no formal police action, citation does not produce significantly less recidivism; and an arrest's deterrent effect will decrease over time.
Abstract
The study's setting was Lincoln/Lancaster County, Neb., where spouse abuse is addressed through a coordinated effort under the Domestic Violence Coalition. Data were taken from spouse abuse incidents that occurred in the first 14 months of the coalition's effort. The response rate on victim interviews was 23 percent (146). Most reports of recidivistic abuse were obtained using a modified version of Straus' Conflict Tactics Scales in telephone interviews with victims. Multiple regression analysis was used to compare the effects of arrest and citation with no formal police action on the dependent variable of repeated abuse. The analysis showed that arrest, not citation, produced significantly less recidivism after an average of 14 months, compared to cases in which police took no formal action. 5 tables, 41 references.