NCJ Number
101181
Journal
Victimology Volume: 10 Issue: 1-4 Dated: (1985) Pages: 301-310
Date Published
1985
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This is a multiyear study of police dispositions of domestic dispute incidents.
Abstract
The sample consists of urban, suburban, and rural police jurisdictions, serving 45 percent of Ohio's estimated 3 year average annual population, and reporting 52 percent of the state's domestic dipute incidents. Although criminal complaints are initiated in one out of four (25 percent) domestic dispute incidents, offenders are arrested in only one out of eight (13 percent) of these cases. In addition, these data suggest that reported domestic dispute and violence incidents tend not to produce criminal complaints. Subsequently, in incidents where criminal complaints are not initiated there is an overwhelming tendency for the police not to take any action. When victims initiate Domestic Violence Program or other Ohio Revised Code criminal complaints there is a tendency for domestic disputes to result in the offender's arrest. Also, reported domestic dispute calls are responded to differently by urban, suburban, and rural police jurisdictions. The implications of police practices in domestic dispute and violence incidents are clear: the police, by their inaction, make a significant contribution to the promotion and continuation of violence in the home. (Author abstract)