Time Course of Repeat Intimate Partner Violence

• NCJ Number: 228687
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 24 Issue: 8 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 619-624
• Author(s): Marie Mele
• Date Published: November 2009
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study assessed whether the opportunity for victim/offender contact in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) influenced the time lapse between successive incidents of IPV.

Abstract

The study found that victims who obtained a restraining order were revictimized in a shorter time period (on average) than victims who did not obtain a restraining order. There are two plausible explanations for this finding. First, repeat victims were more likely to obtain restraining orders; or second, restraining orders created the opportunity for a new type of offense, i.e., violation of a restraining order. Future studies might further explore this relationship in order to determine whether restraining orders aid in the prevention or facilitation of repeat IPV. The study produced conflicting findings about the relationship between the opportunity for victim/offender contact and the time lapse between successive incidents of IPV. As expected, cohabitation with the offender was associated with a reduction in time between a victim's first and second victimization. This relationship, however, was not found in subsequent victimizations. Also, co-parenting was linked with a reduction in time between the second and third victimization, but not between the first and second or third and fourth victimization. Similarly, victim unemployment was associated with a reduction in time between the third and fourth victimization, but not between the first and second or second and third victimization. These findings suggest that the opportunity for victim-offender contact only partially explains the time course of repeat IPV. Suggestions are offered for future research. The study relied on police records as the primary data source. A total of 2,127 incident reports were collected from a large, urban police department in New Jersey. The incident reports included in the sample were all domestic violence incidents that involved a repeat victim and were reported to police from August 2002 to August 2003. 4 tables and 25 references