Police prosecutors and LGBTIQ intimate partner violence, victims, and perpetrators: an empirical study

Abstract

This paper reports on a survey exploring whether police prosecutors in the Queensland Police Service can recognise and respond appropriately to intimate partner violence (IPV) in the LGBTIQ community. Utilising an online survey featuring hypothetical vignettes of IPV involving LGBTIQ people, it sought to understand police prosecutors’ recognition of, and response to, IPV situations involving LGBTIQ people; the likelihood of IPV occurring in LGBTIQ relationships; and whether friendships, interaction (social and professional), and levels of trust in LGBTIQ people shape their perceptions of LGBTIQ victims, perpetrators, and IPV itself. Contributing new knowledge into the extant policing literature examining policing of IPV, the results of this study offer a unique insight into police prosecutors and LGBTIQ IPV and their inability to clearly distinguish between perpetrators and victims in LGBTIQ IPV scenarios, particularly where coercive control is involved, or a transgender person is the victim. We argue that enhancing police prosecutors’ recognition of, and response to, IPV situations in the LGBTIQ community is important because of the key role that prosecutors play in LGBTIQ peoples’ access to justice and responding appropriately to their needs as victims and perpetrators. The results from this study have international significance regarding developments in policing policy and practice and IPV recognition, and what this means for operational policing guidelines and better policing response when prosecuting IPV situations involving LGBTIQ people.