Criminal Case Outcomes, Incarceration, and Subsequent Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Given the centrality of court interventions to the U.S. response to intimate partner violence (IPV), it is crucial to evaluate their impact on reabuse. To do so, this study examined whether female IPV victims’ experiences of abuse in the year following a criminal court case against their partner varied by case outcome or by whether the batterer had or had not been incarcerated. Consistent with prior research, we found no main effect differences in reabuse trajectories by court case outcome or by incarceration. We also examined variables that might moderate the impact of case outcome and incarceration on reabuse and found that although batterer legal history did not affect the impact of case outcome, his age, Time 1 employment status, the couple’s Time 1 living arrangement, and duration of abuse did interact with case outcome. No variables tested moderated the relationship between incarceration and reabuse over time. Findings suggest that in certain cases there may be benefits to case outcomes that leave potential consequences hanging over the offender’s head. These results also add to the growing body of evidence questioning the efficacy of one-size-fits-all approaches to IPV cases.