Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Public's and police officers' interpretation and handling of domestic violence cases
Other Titles:	Journal of interpersonal violence
Authors:	Finn, Mary A Stanlans, Loretta J
Keywords:	Policing;Criminal justice responses
Year:	2006
Publisher:	Sage Publications
Citation:	21 (9), September 2006
Notes:	This US study examined the responses of 131 experienced officers, 127 novice officers and 157 laypersons to randomly assigned domestic violence cases that they were given to read and were asked to rate various responses to the case such as ‘arrest the man’; ‘ arrest the woman ’; give informal advice’ etc. This is the first study to compare officer’s responses to domestic violence to that of laypersons. Officers were more likely to respond by enforcing the law while laypersons were more likely to respond by providing informal advice or mediating the dispute if there was visible injury. Where there was no visible injury to the wife both laypersons and police officers preferred non-formal responses to arrest with none of the public choosing arrest in this case while 3% of inexperienced officers and 4.8% of experienced officers. The results indicate that the general public does not support the feminist argument for mandatory arrest.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/16441
ISSN:	0886-2605
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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