Norms and Costs of Government Domestic Violence Policies: A Critical Review

Abstract

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.