Criminal Justice System Goals

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Criminal Justice System Goals

• Safety of the persons involved
• Cessation of violence
• Accountability of the perpetrators
• Separation of the perpetrator the victim
• Restoration of the persons being battered
• Enhancement of agency support

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Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence

• Increased intervention by police
• Punitive legal sanctions as a deterrent
• Notification of victims of legal rights
• Availability of supportive services

3
Traditional Police Response

• Failure to respond to calls
• Refusal to arrest the assailant
• Failure to file reports
• Harassment of the victim

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Impetus to Effectuate Change

• Tracey Thurman v. City of Torrington
• Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment
• Mandatory arrest replication studies

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Arguments in Favor of Mandatory Arrest

• Control police behavior
• Provide protection from immediate violence
• General deterrent effect among batterers
• Communicate that domestic violence is a serious
  crime
• Redistribute police resources to make them
  available to women on a more equal basis

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Arguments Against Mandatory Arrest

• Arrest costs are high and require a substantial
  investment of time
• Possible adverse consequences
• Ignores preferences of the victims
• Arrests may be frivolous
• Police arrest both parties, thereby discouraging
  victim reports

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The Domestic Violence Arrest Decision

• Robinson and Chandek (2000)
• Crime and Delinquency

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Demographic Variables

• Race of Victim (minority victims have
  significantly lower rates of arrest made on their
  behalf compared to white counterparts)
• Gender of Officer (female officers make fewer
  arrests than male counterparts)
• Age of Officer (older, more experienced officers
  make fewer arrests than younger officers)

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Attitudinal Variables

• Officers perception that the victim will drop
  charges or is uncooperative, and whether he or
  she believes the victim prefers arrest
• Whether the victim has used alcohol or drugs or
  was verbally abusive toward the officer

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Situational VariablesIncrease Likelihood of
Arrest

• Weapons
• Seriousness of the offense (felony v.
  misdemeanor)
• Additional witnesses present
• Intoxicated disputants
• Female called the police
• Victim sustained injuries
• Incidents of repeat violence

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Situational VariablesDecrease Likelihood of
Arrest

• Formal relationship between disputants (married)
• Suspect not present at the scene
• Time of shift

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Research Method

• Medium-sized police department in the Midwest
• 140,000 residents, primarily blue-collar
• 1995 reported more than 2,500 domestic assault
  crimes
• Five month data collection period, total of
  1,313 domestic violence incidents
• sample n 229

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Research Findings

• Demographic variables relatively unimportant in
  predicting arrest decision, except gender of the
  officer
• Female officers make arrest less often than male
  officers
• More likely to adhere to victims preferences
  than to policy mandates

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Research Findings

• Officers with greater experience policing
  domestic violence incidents developed more
  negative opinions of victims over time
• Officers focus on legal, rather than extralegal,
  factors when making arrests
• Time of shift decreased the probability of arrest
  (hour before shift change)

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Colorado Legislation 1979-95

• Mandate to arrest without warrant when a
  protective order is violated
• Authorization to arrest batterers when probable
  cause exists
• Requirement to make written reports on domestic
  violence offenses and to title them domestic
  violence

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Unique Police Issues

• Neither party wants the police there
• One or both parties may turn on the officer
• Cultural beliefs that the situation should be
  handled within the home
• Victim is afraid to speak freely in the presence
  of abuser
• Officer is given inaccurate information

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Unique Police Issues

• Valid self-defense may appear to be an
  altercation involving both parties
• Victim may appear disoriented, crazy, out of
  control while the abuser appears calm, cool,
  collected
• Victim believes that the police can only offer
  short-term protection from the abuser

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Officer Safety Awareness

• What has happened before is not a reliable
  measure of what will happen now
• Unpredictability of human actions in a crisis
• Emotional investment by both parties exaggerates
  intensity volatility
• Threatening intruder in a private realm

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Who is the primary aggressor?

• Legal intent to protect victims
• Relative degree of injury, type of injury, or
  fear inflicted by each individual
• Physical size, strength, and ability of each
  party or type of weapon
• Previous history of domestic violence
• Witnesses

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No Probable Cause to Arrest

• A lack of sufficient corroborating evidence
• A lack of physical evidence
• The inability to establish which party is telling
  the truth

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Assessing the BatterersPotential to Kill

• Threats and fantasies of homicide or suicide
• Weapons
• Obsessiveness about partner or family
• Level of rage
• Access to the victim
• Pet abuse
• Excessive drug and/or alcohol

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C.R.S. 18-6-800.3Domestic Violence

• Domestic Violence means an act or threatened
  act of violence upon a person with whom the actor
  is or has been involved in an intimate
  relationship. Also includes any other crime
  against a person or property or any municipal
  ordinance violation when used as a method of
  coercion, control, punishment, intimidation, or
  revenge.

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C.R.S 18-6-800.3Domestic Violence

• Intimate relationship means a relationship
  between spouses, former spouses, past or present
  unmarried couples, or persons who are both the
  parents of the same child regardless of whether
  the persons have been married or have lived
  together at any time

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C.R.S. 18-6-803.6Duties of Peace Officers

• If a peace officer has probably cause to believe
  that a crime involving domestic violence has been
  committed, the officers shall without undue delay
  arrest the person suspected and charge them with
  the appropriate offense.

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C.R.S. 18-6-803.6Duties of Peace Officers

• Complaints of domestic violence from two or more
  opposing persons, the officer shall evaluate each
  complaint separately to determine if a crime has
  been committed by one or more persons.

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C.R.S. 18-6-803.6Primary Aggressor

• Any prior complaints of domestic violence
• Relative severity of the injuries inflicted on
  each person
• Likelihood of future injury to each person
• Possibility that one of the persons acted in
  self-defense

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C.R.S. 18-6-803.6Duties of Peace Officers

• Authorized to use every reasonable means to
  protect the alleged victim or the alleged
  victims children to prevent further violence.
  Includes transporting to shelter, whether parent
  objects or custody order exists.
• No civil liability.