Case Characteristics and Odds of Arrest Over Time in Police Cases of Child-Parent Violence

Over the last five years, the Australian state of Queensland has taken a strong policy stance on addressing the highly gendered cultural norms and values that facilitate men’s use of domestic violence against women. This stance is supported by contemporary feminist scholarship, which demonstrates that addressing the cultural facilitators of domestic violence—and particularly those that relate to gender—must form a critical aspect of any policy attempt to prevent domestic violence. However, given that cultural frameworks have not yet been widely adopted and evaluated in government policy, considerably less is known about how such policies play out in practice. This is problematic, as existing evidence points to numerous complexities that, if not managed effectively, may undermine the effectiveness of domestic violence policies that seek to change culture. These complexities relate to conflicting government aims and rationalities; the deeply embedded nature of cultural expectations surrounding gender; and the complex relationship between cultural norms and values, broader social structures, and individual behaviours.Drawing on Queensland as a case study, I examine how the Queensland Government manages the aforementioned complexities in its contemporary domestic violence policies. My examination answers the following research questions: (1) How can governments informed by neoliberal rationalities legitimately intervene in the culture of the communities they govern? (2) How can governments ensure that policies aiming to change cultural expectations are not themselves underpinned by cultural assumptions that are incongruent with feminist literature? (3) How can governments effectively engage with cultural facilitators of domestic violence without marginalising other important contributing factors? By answering these questions, I aim to contribute to existing knowledge regarding the strengths and limitations of policies that seek to change culture, and how such policies may be improved to more effectively prevent domestic violence.To answer my research questions, I analyse the Queensland Government’s contemporary domestic violence policies using Fairclough’s three-dimensional critical discourse analysis framework. I draw on data from Queensland Government domestic violence policies released since the development of the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in 2015. I also draw data from 15 qualitative interviews that I conducted with members of the policy community who were involved in the policy development process. Participants included government employees from various Queensland state departments (n=7), CEOs (n=3) and employees (n=3) from various community services and support organisations, and academics from various educational institutions and disciplinary backgrounds (n=2). While the policy document analysis allowed me to analyse the explicit and implicit messages and assumptions underpinning the policies, the qualitative interviews allowed me to consider the power relations at play throughout the policymaking process and examine who had the power to contribute to the policies and to what effect.Ultimately, my study identifies three main barriers that undermine the Queensland Government’s relatively progressive domestic violence policy approach. First, in order to legitimise its intervention in the cultural sphere and distance itself from direct intervention in citizens’ private lives, the Queensland Government adopts the strategy of governing through community. In doing so, the government conceptualises the community as comprising of particular discrete groups. This conceptualisation has important implications for which community members are or are not targeted and engaged in the policies. Second, the Queensland Government policies specifically highlight the need for the community to change cultural norms and values relating to gender; however, the policies leverage existing, deeply-engrained gender ideologies as a way of promoting this goal. As a result, while the policies may help the community to recognise and challenge more explicit manifestations of gendered cultural expectations, they also help to reinforce the more implicit and highly pervasive cultural and structural inequalities that have underpinned women’s historic marginalisation in society. Finally, in focusing on the importance of changing community culture, the Queensland Government policies largely overlook the importance of changing the attitudes and behaviours of perpetrators themselves. This has resulted in a lack of sanctions and supports to assist perpetrators to change, as well as a broad under-prioritisation of primary prevention strategies.Findings from this research provide critical insight into the barriers that may undermine domestic violence policy approaches that aim to change cultural norms and values. This research is particularly timely given the increasing recognition in feminist scholarship that domestic violence policies should aim to change cultural norms and values. My analysis of Queensland’s domestic violence policies therefore offers practical insight for the Queensland Government itself to consider for future reforms, as well as important lessons for other Australian and international jurisdictions that aspire to end domestic violence through policies that aim to change culture.

Current domestic violence policies developed over past decades at the behest of women's advocacy groups and other interest groups. Through their efforts, perceived norms of behavior have been established and government power has been exerted to enforce those norms. Now, government policies and procedures regarding domestic violence are being questioned based on their impact on both alleged abusers and their alleged victims. Feminist law professors question domestic violence policies including mandatory arrest laws, mandatory no-contact orders, and no-drop prosecution (against the victims' wishes) policies. These policies many times ignore alleged victims' rights and wishes and decrease alleged abusers' perceptions of procedural justice related to domestic violence cases. Consequently, current policies may make victims less, rather than more safe. Under current policies, people can easily file questionable domestic violence claims for almost any reason, including circumventing normal court procedures for family divorce and custody decisions. This study uses data from West Virginia as an example. Over time, investigations and arrests for domestic violence increased dramatically overall while investigations related to aggravated assault and homicide declined. Less than twenty percent of domestic violence petitions filed in West Virginia lead to the issuance of a protective order. Estimated identifiable governmental costs associated with denied or dismissed domestic violence petitions exceed $18 million annually in West Virginia. Any benefits of increasingly proactive domestic violence policies must be compared to their costs. A new social norm that creates a high cost for false domestic violence claims is needed.

Insult to Injury: Rethinking Our Responses to Intimate Abuse is Linda G. Mills’s indictment of the overly criminal-justice–reliant response to domestic violence in the United States. Mills advocates a single, new intervention in domestic violence cases to replace the current system of arrests, prosecution, and jail time. (About civil orders of protection, the work is curiously silent.) In this essay, I will argue that although Mills makes some thoughtprovoking points and some accurate criticisms of our current response to domestic violence, her own particular view of domestic violence causation leads her to misread history and oversimplify what is developing into a provocative, serious, and complicated debate about the public response to domestic violence. In her brief against mandatory arrest policies and overreliance on arrest and prosecution, Mills astonishingly presents her case as if she were the lone prophet in the wilderness. As most readers of Violence Against Women are aware, the effectiveness of criminal justice approaches and the issue of mandatory arrest in particular have been extensively discussed by a variety of noted scholars, researchers, and activists. Miller (1989, 2000) has discussed mandatory arrest policies and their effects on women of color and poor women. Early on, Zorza (1994) analyzed the implications of arrest and prosecution of batterers, as have Buzawa and Buzawa (1993, 1996). In a recent survey of the literature on the effectiveness of the criminal justice response, Iovanni and Miller (2001) concluded that the system has only a limited ability to keep women safe due to the fact that the problem has its roots in the structured, gendered inequality in society. Coker’s (2000) survey of the research literature also led her to conclude that for significant numbers of poor women of color, the benefits of mandatory

Mandatory arrest for domestic violence and repeat offending: A meta-analysis

For most of United States history, the police did not intervene in domestic violence. To redress for this history, police departments began implementing mandatory arrest policies in the 1980s. These policies require police to arrest in cases of domestic violence when injuries are present, regardless of victim consent. Drawing on two years of ethnographic research conducted in central Pennsylvania, including participant observation in a domestic violence unit of a police department and interviews with police officers, this paper examines how mandatory arrest policies extend the spatial reach of the state into private space and intimate relationships. Specifically, I argue that the policing of domestic violence positions police officers as neoliberal subjects responsible for mediating abusive relationships on behalf of the state. This paper contributes to geographic research on policing in the private sphere, while also offering a detailed accounting of the mechanics of police practice.

Policy and procedures for domestic violence patients in Canadian emergency departments: A national survey

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore lawsuits involving police response to domestic violence incidents. Focusing on the specific legal remedy of due process under Section 1983, the paper seeks to examine federal case law dealing with police response to domestic violence victims. The paper also aims to discuss differences in procedural and substantive due process violations, highlighting circumstances under which the police may be held liable for improper response to domestic violence incidents.Design/methodology/approachThis paper qualitatively examines relevant Section 1983 federal court decisions (n=27 as of May, 2008) identified through a query of Lexis Nexis for the last ten years (before and after Castle Rock) dealing with lawsuits arising from domestic abuse investigations.FindingsThe preponderance of cases have resulted in dismissals of summary judgments filed against police officers and agencies for allegations that the police violated plaintiffs' due process rights. The recent Supreme Court decision inTown of Castle Rockv.Gonzaleshas prevented plaintiffs from seeking relief under procedural due process; however, domestic abuse victims have been successful to some extent using substantive due process as a basis for civil action. Plaintiffs have prevailed in federal courts alleging that the police acted with deliberate indifference or conscious disregard for victims' civil rights.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is limited to federal court decisions involving due process violations and does not account for factors resulting in state tort negligence lawsuits filed against the police. Moreover, federal courts will likely continue to use substantive due process as a Section 1983 remedy for domestic violence victims as research and awareness on domestic violence policy evolves.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that police agencies should take note of recent court decisions applicable to their jurisdictions as domestic violence enforcement policy remains fragmented. Agencies should ensure that police dispatcher 911 call classification policies are current and that training guidelines comport with these policies.Originality/valueGiven the prevalence of domestic violence in the USA, police agencies should expect increases in the number of lawsuits filed against the police for violations of substantive due process.

Unlike in the adult criminal justice system, where domestic violence policies hold perpetrators accountable for their violence, the juvenile justice system rarely addresses teenage dating violence. Although the adult criminal justice system has pursued policies toward intimate partner violence grounded on a "zero tolerance" ideology, the juvenile justice system was originally founded on an ideology of "child saving" to rehabilitate youths and divert them from the justice system. The implication of policy disparity between the adult criminal justice system and the juvenile justice system may be one contributing reason why teenage dating violence has received a different societal response than adult domestic violence. This article, a comparative examination of juvenile justice and domestic violence policies, reveals very different histories, philosophies, and trajectories of policy development. Teenage dating violence may be "falling through the cracks" between two policy approaches. Perhaps the juvenile justice system could find a balanced approach to adopting the philosophy of zero tolerance or holding teenage perpetrators accountable for their choice to use violence, as the adult criminal justice system does, while at the same time maintaining the "rehabilitative" philosophy of the original juvenile justice policies.

THE MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: A CONSTRUCTIVIST INQUIRY MONICA RENE LEISEY Master of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2002 Bachelor of Arts, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, 1988 A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2007 Director: Mary Katherine O’Conner, Ph.D. Professor, School of Social Work Spurred by the work of the Battered Women’s Movement, domestic violence has been responded to since it emerged as a problem in the 1970s. At first the response was providing places for victims to stay and recover from the violence while also providing x opportunities for consciousness raising and empowerment work. As domestic violence became a more recognized problem, policies were created and enacted to end the problem. Through the 1980s and 1990s, changes in federal policies in regards to domestic violence were incorporated. The criminal justice system began incorporating such policies as mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution policies as well as using batterer intervention programs (BIPs) to provide services to those accused of domestic violence charges. In Virginia, domestic violence advocates, batterer intervention program service providers and members of the criminal justice system worked together to create coordinated community responses with the stated goals of safety for domestic violence victims and accountability for perpetrators of domestic violence. The coordination, however, seemed to be fraught with difficulties, as domestic violence advocates, BIP providers, and the criminal justice system continued to struggle with the implementation of the standards. It seemed that although all three groups were able to agree upon the goals of accountability and safety, there were underlying issues of difference that were not being considered. The participants of this inquiry had congruent understandings of the term domestic violence; however their understandings of the social problem domestic violence were quite different. Because the way a social problem is understood influences policy as it is created, implemented, and experienced, it is important to strive for clarity concerning the social problem to which the policy is responding. xi This inquiry is an exploration of the multiple understandings of the social problem domestic violence as understood by those who participated in the inquiry. The tentative findings, or lessons learned, are not to be understood as generalizable findings, but as the unique, co-created understandings of the multiple meanings of the social problem domestic violence as understood by the participants and the inquirer. Chapter 1: An introduction I provided services to domestic violence survivors and their children for many years before considering the implications of the services I was providing. In the extensive training I received, the theoretical and ideological roots for domestic violence were explicit – domestic violence was a consequence of the hierarchical and patriarchal system within which we all live. It was a logical outcome to the socialization that we experienced as young women. What was needed to fix the problem was empowerment, consciousness raising, and additional services for survivors. It was not until my second year internship during my Masters in Social Work program that I began to consider the implications of those underlying assumptions. My Experiences My internship placement was at a domestic violence resource center housed within a community corrections department. I was working for the system – a problematic situation for a feminist raised, and trained, to believe that the system was the problem. It was there I began to question the theoretical basis for the services as well as the actual services I had been providing domestic violence survivors for many years. During my internship I had the opportunity to begin attending a meeting of individuals who focused not on providing services to victims, but on providing services to batterers. I also had the opportunity to speak with police officers and parole officers who provided supervision to individuals charged with and convicted of domestic violence offenses.

This exploratory study seeks to illustrate how the policy context shapes the way policy actors engage with concepts of gender and practices of racism. The paper draws on two case studies in the context of family and domestic violence (FDV) policy and service development in an Australian State Government context. The first case study uses document analysis of a major public inquiry into Government agency responses to FDV in Indigenous communities. The second uses a policy audit tool to examine a policy development process in a department responsible for coordinating human service agencies, services and funding of community-sector FDV projects. These case studies reveal that both Aboriginal women and non-Aboriginal women can disappear from the concerns that FDV policy purports to solve. To demonstrate our argument, we show how the policy terminology of both ‘domestic violence’ and that of family violence’ can render gender and racism invisible.

Purpose – The chapter explores transnational influences, global and local networks and organizations (governmental and nongovernmental), in the development of domestic violence policy in China and England. Approach – The frameworks of traveling theory (Said, 1984; Min, 2005) and global social policy and international relations approaches to policy transfer such as policy entrepreneurs (Stone, 2001) are used to discuss the different domestic violence policy trajectories in the two countries. Social implications – It is shown that in China, where activism and policy development concerning domestic violence is relatively recent, global social policy and transnational alliances created via international and global meetings have enabled activists to draw on ideas and policy frameworks from outside the nation-state to develop a specifically Chinese policy agenda. In England, where there is a longer history of debate and policy development regarding domestic violence, global social policy and transnational links have more recently become important to activists and academics wanting to shift policy developments further and to place them within a framework of gendered inequality and human rights. Findings – The chapter considers action and policy development related to domestic violence, comparing these across the very different contexts of England and China by using the ideas of traveling theory and policy networks. It is shown that use by Chinese of pressure from “within” and “at the margins” of the state has proven effective in challenging and developing domestic violence policy, while in England a combination of pressure from “outside” the state and mainstreaming has enabled activists to develop the policy agenda in positive, if fragile, ways. Originality/values of chapter – In both China and England, there is evidence of policy entrepreneurs traveling policy ideas into the countries, where they are contested and incorporated. The particular sociopolitical contexts of women's movements and networks influence policy development across the different localities. Within the Chinese context, activists have used pressure from “within” and “at the margins” of the state to effectively challenge and develop domestic violence policy. English activists have instead used pressure from “outside” the state to develop and shape domestic violence policy in England.

Mandatory and preferred arrest policies for domestic violence (DV) have led to an increase in DV arrests and prosecutions of male and female suspects. The strain of this increase on criminal justice resources suggests a need for prioritizing DV cases and determining suspects most at risk for recidivism and victimization. The present study sought to address a largely ignored question in the field of DV: who is more likely to recidivate, male or female DV offenders involved with the criminal justice system? Two forms of recidivism were coded using subsequent police reports for DV: recidivism as a suspect and recidivism as a victim. The results indicate that there are significant differences in the ways in which male and female DV offenders recidivate. Males were more likely to recidivate as a suspect and females were more likely to be listed as a future DV victim in police reports. Male and female offenders also significantly differed in the frequency of their recidivism. Gender, independent of other factors, was reliably associated with both forms of recidivism and a similar pattern of recidivism was found in two different cities. There was, however, a small group of female offenders in both cities who appear to be primary aggressors. Another grouping of female offenders appears to be involved in relationships characterized by mutual aggression and bi-directional violence. Together these two groups account for roughly a quarter of the women in our sample. The implications of the findings for arrest practices, treatment and interventions, and using gender as a risk factor are discussed. Validity and reliability problems with using police reports as a measure of DV recidivism are also reviewed.

Prior research into factors predicting arrest in domestic violence cases is limited in three regards: (a) no examination of whether mandatory arrest policies are associated with increased risk of arrest across multiple jurisdictions; (b) little consideration of whether police organizational characteristics influence arrest in such cases; and (c) little examination of whether mandatory arrest policies moderate the influence of extralegal characteristics on arrest risks. Using year 2000 data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics, a nonlinear hierarchical modeling procedure was employed to evaluate the predictive utility of situational and organizational factors associated with arrest probability in domestic violence cases. The results suggest that, in domestic violence cases, mandatory arrest policies predict arrest and modestly reduce the significance of race as a predictor of arrest. The results are interpreted as supporting a constrained rational model of policing.

Although domestic violence is increasingly acknowledged as a workplace issue and a gender equality issue, a gap remains in the effective implementation of domestic violence policies in workplaces. The Domestic Violence – Victims Protection Act passed in 2018 in Aotearoa New Zealand was a global landmark for holding workplaces accountable for safeguarding victims through a codification of employer responsibility. While the legislation is a milestone, such moves are nascent compared with other workplace gender equality initiatives. In this article, we assess ‘where we are now’ in relation to domestic violence policy initiatives, arguing that knowledge necessary for successful policy implementation is limited by the historical ‘gender blindness’ of industrial relations scholarship. For successful implementation, scholars and practitioners must understand domestic violence as a public issue embedded in broader patterns of gender inequality, reinforced by a gendered labour market. Drawing upon vignettes of victims’ experiences from empirical data on intimate partner stalking in Aotearoa New Zealand, a research and practice agenda is proposed to consider ‘where to next’ for implementing domestic violence policies. Our agenda proposes recognising domestic violence as a gendered, public issue which blurs boundaries between work, home and society in order to truly safeguard women at work.

Domestic violence and governmental domestic violence policies impact many families and produce considerable economic costs. This paper reviews literature related to domestic violence including false claims of domestic violence. Domestic violence literature is considered in relation to economic literature on norm theory and the procedural justice concept. Norm theory provides a basis to understand and evaluate domestic violence policies and offer suggestions regarding those policies. Current norms may encourage overly aggressive governmental response to claims of domestic violence, provide an incentive to file false claims in some cases, and provide little if any penalty for filing false claims.