NCJ Number
215849
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 21 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 611-628
Date Published
October 2006
Length
18 pages
Annotation
In an examination of female victims’ opinions on the prosecution of domestic violence, this study asked battered women whether they favored or opposed prosecution of their cases.
Abstract
Of the 373 respondents, 70.2 percent wanted charges to be filed. Most of the background and demographic variables had no significant impact on victims’ opinions about filing charges. As well, educational level, number of dependent children at home, or race had no significant impact. The effect of injury and frequency of victimization had less impact on victims’ opinions than what might be expected from previous research. The strongest predictor of victims who wanted charges to be filed were those victims who had previously received a protective order against the defendant. Twenty-eight respondents who did not want to press charges gave 26 reasons for their decisions. The most frequent reason given was what could be called a “negation of retribution” theme. This means that the defendant did not need to be punished because the crime was minor or unintentional. The second most frequent reason was that of the emotional or financial commitment on the defendant. Respondents expressed an emotional attachment. Of the 66 women wanting to file charges, a total of 85 reasons were given for their decisions. The most frequent theme concerned retribution. County prosecutors are increasingly adopting a mandatory prosecution policy for domestic violence cases. This is due partly to some battered women advocates contending that if victims have no control over the criminal justice process, then the abusers will have no reason to threaten them into dropping the charges. The results of this study provide an important step in understanding more about the opinions and experiences of battered women in the prosecution of their cause. Tables, notes, and references