NCJ Number
213264
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2006 Pages: 268-287
Date Published
March 2006
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study explored the justifications of police officers for employing dual arrest in jurisdictions with preferred arrest policies for domestic violence cases.
Abstract
The main justifications offered by police officers who reported they would arrest both partners in domestic violence cases were: (1) it’s a legal requirement; and (2) to force both parties to obtain counseling. Other findings indicated that among the 15 experienced officers in the study, all but 3 who reported they would use dual arrest reported they would take the husband into custody but would issue the wife a citation to appear in court. Six officers mentioned the potential for future injuries as a justification for dual arrest. The findings suggest that officer’s decisions to make dual arrests are based on paternalistic attitudes toward battered women that assume battered women would not act to help themselves in the absence of legal intervention. The authors suggest that training and modification of statutes would do much to address the problem of dual arrests in domestic violence cases only if these measures are coupled with effective follow-through to monitor officer compliance with departmental policies. Participants were 24 officers recruited from public safety training centers in the north Georgia area. Participants were randomly assigned to read one script that portrayed police officers responding to a report of a verbal argument at a residence. Participants then responded to open-ended questions regarding their likely response to the situation and their justifications for their arrest decisions. Content analysis was employed by two coders who analyzed the content of the officer’s thought protocols. References