Increasing the proportion of domestic violence arrests that are prosecuted: a natural experiment in Milwaukee

This article describes research in the US on mandatory and pro-arrest policies in domestic violence incidents that have increased strains on prosecutorial and court resources. A literature overview is given. It found that prosecutors had to: screen out difficult cases and expend resources on fewer but more winnable cases; or prosecute a larger number of cases. A natural experiment resulted when the Milwaukee prosecutor liberalised screening policy to double the number of domestic violence case filings. Two samples of case records from 2 periods were used (one to be representative of the period immediately prior to the change in charging policy, and one representative of the period immediately after). Victims were interviewed. It found that after the new screening policy, time to dispose doubled, convictions decreased, prevalence of pre-trial recidivism increased, and victim satisfaction decreased. The results did not support the idea that domestic violence cases can be readily prosecuted without regard for victim’s desires. Otherwise, the findings suggest that the policy would require additional staff and resources to collect additional types of evidence, and to try a larger number of cases.