Calling the Police in Instances of Family Violence

Abstract

This study examines the impact of the victim–offender relationship on the willingness of victims to call the police in family violence incidents, with particular attention to the life stages of victims. Different stages of life have an impact on the decision to report criminal victimization. Family composition and the roles of family members change over life stages. When children are young, adults in the household have child-rearing responsibilities that shape the interpersonal dynamics in the household. When children approach adulthood and parents age, the parents may become more dependent on the children in a variety of ways. These changes in family composition and organization across life stages can affect the normative and cost–benefit considerations in deciding whether to call the police or not. Yet studies of responses to family violence have virtually ignored the influence of life stage on the decision to call the police. In addition, most studies of victims of family violence focus on marital or intimate relationships and fail to examine any other relationships in the family. It is not clear whether the findings from the general literature on domestic violence are applicable to intergenerational family violence. This article examines the impact of a broader range of victim–offender relationships across three age groups representing different life stages. The authors find that the factors explaining victims’ decisions to report victimization to the police vary across life stages.