NCJ Number
84211
Journal
International Journal of the Sociology of Law Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1982) Pages: 187-204
Date Published
1982
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article argues that domestic violence cases receive less serious treatment by the criminal justice system than do nondomestic violence cases.
Abstract
The Scottish study on which the article is based included interviews with battered women regarding their experiences with the law, participant observation on and interviews with police, interviews with prosecutors and examination of their records, and observation of civil and criminal court proceedings. Findings revealed that corroboration problems are not a significant practical difficulty in domestic violence cases. Similarly, claims about wives dropping charges are greatly exaggerated. The study also emphasized the fact that police exercise considerable control over what the charge will be against the accused. With regard to court proceedings, an indicator of the relative importance of seriousness attached to a case will be its court assignment. In each of the three locations included in the study, there was clear evidence of the greater tendency to assign domestic violence cases to the lower district courts, in contrast to those cases that were not domestic violence cases. In addition, nondomestic cases were more likely to involve a trial than domestic cases. Attempts to remove these discrepancies should focus on how prosecutors' discretion operates in domestic violence cases. Four notes, 5 tables, and 15 references are provided.