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From the late 1970s into the 1990s, 20 states in the USA passed' mandatory arrest laws', designed to curb domestic violence, by requiring the responding officer to arrest the offender. I show that these laws led to an increase in the mortality rates of African-American women. The increase takes place approximately four years after the law was passed and loses its statistical significance as time passes. I infer from these results that mandatory arrest laws had unintended consequences for the victims whose partners were arrested, but that these unintended consequences impacted the victims only in the few years following the law. I conclude that increased awareness of the law and offender deterrence eventually mitigates these unintended consequences. I propose a potential explanation for the increase in mortality rates, and make a policy recommendation that offenders and victims be informed about the law change if such a change is to be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) impacts more than 40 % of people in the U.S. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has maintained a police-centric response to IPV, which relies on arrest—via policies like mandatory arrest laws—as its primary intervention. There is mixed evidence on whether IPV policing decreases subsequent IPV at the individual level, but less is known about IPV policing's broader collateral consequences. This systematic scoping review is the first to synthesize existing evidence for the generalized consequences of IPV policing in the U.S. We searched Web of Science, ProQuest, and EBSCO Host, and identified 36 relevant articles. Survivor criminalization was the most studied generalized consequence of IPV policing and existing studies have documented positive associations between mandatory arrest laws and risk of survivor arrest. We also found numerous methodologically rigorous studies on the effects of mandatory arrest laws on population-level IPV victimization. The review also identifies gaps in the evidence base: there is a need for research on additional potential consequences of IPV policing such as police violence against survivors, involvement of child protective services, and psychosocial and physical health outcomes of survivors. • This is the first review of evidence on generalized consequences of IPV policing in the U.S. • Survivor criminalization was the most studied consequence of IPV policing. • There are also numerous studies on the effect of mandatory arrest laws on population-level IPV victimization. • There is a need for more research on other potential consequences of IPV policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing research attention is being devoted to intimate partner violence (IPV) involving sexual minority individuals, which is providing insights about prevalence and disclosure patterns. While this work consistently finds that sexual minority IPV victims are reluctant to report to the police, little is known about actual police response to these victims. One unexplored area concerns how growing societal support and legal recognition of same-sex relationships might affect police response to IPV such as arrest. This issue is particularly timely given the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage. The present study examines police response to IPV involving same-sex couples using arrest data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Findings indicate a relationship between legal recognition of same-sex marriage and arrest in IPV cases for both male and female same-sex couples. Implications of these findings for policy and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The U.S. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice under President Johnson in 1967 called for a program of research that would support evidence‐based tracking, targeting, and testing of policing domestic “disputes.” During the past 50 years, the amount of research on domestic violence has grown. The findings from targeting studies reveal a steep pyramid from many low‐harm cases at the base rising to a tiny fraction that are lethal. The findings from testing studies reveal that arrests reduce reoffending among employed persons in the short run while increasing recidivism among unemployed suspects. Arrests in one experiment increased all‐cause mortality of victims over 23 years. The findings from tracking research reveal wide variance across police agencies in implementing mandatory arrest. Since the Crime Commission, however, mandatory arrest laws were also enacted in 28 states in the 1980s, with uneven enforcement for misdemeanor domestic abuse. New research is needed to test the effectiveness of other domestic violence interventions, including restorative justice, as well as follow‐up studies of previous research sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many jurisdictions in the U.S. have implemented mandatory arrest policies in an attempt to limit police officers' discretion in their arrest decisions when responding to intimate partner violence calls. Drawing from semi-structured interviews with female victims of intimate partner violence, I explore the ways in which mandatory arrest policies have influenced the identity work of women during their interactions with police officers. I focus specifically on women's 'unsuccessful' identity claims: situations where women are unable to convince police officers that they are victims and situations where women are unable to convince officers that they are not victims. I examine the strategies that women use during their identity work and explore the consequences of women's failed self presentations under mandatory arrest policies, the most significant of which is a woman's arrest. I argue that under mandatory arrest policies, for many women, the risk of failed identity work is even more consequential than before these policies were established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community responses to domestic violence typically involve the introduction of multiple interventions. Yet very little is known about the impact of the timing and sequencing of these interventions on community outcomes. A reason for this is the inherent limitations of traditional methods in social science. New methods are needed to understand the effect of varying the sequence and timing of interventions. This study responds to the issue by introducing system dynamics as a method for modeling community interventions. The paper presents a model of domestic violence cases moving through a criminal justice response, and uses the simulation model to evaluate the impact of implementing three interventions—mandatory arrest, victim advocacy, and changes in level of cooperation—on two system-level outcomes: improving offender accountability and increasing victim safety. Results illustrate the complex nature of these relationships. Implications for community practice and future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented about the two cases Kelo v. City of New London and Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales. It discusses the unusual proposal appeared to the residents of Weare, New Hampshire about taking the eighteenth-century farmhouse and transform it into the Lost Liberty Hotel. Information regarding the horror story of the Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, a murder case wherein the father murdered his three children are discussed.

The past 2.5 decades have seen explosive growth in research and practice in the area of intimate partner violence (IPV), especially of perpetrators. In the present paper, the author reflects on his observations of key developments in the field and examines research that has increased our understanding of batterers, who they are, and how we might best work with them to end IPV. Issues and controversies that surround batterer treatment and research with batterers are also examined. The author calls for continued development of an empirical base to guide theory development and practice standards, as well as increased dissemination and translation of research into formats that are useful to clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past 2 1/2 decades have witnessed explosive growth in research and practice in the area of intimate partner violence, especially regarding perpetrators. The author reflects on his observations of key community and systemic developments in the field of research and treatment with batterers. The author examines systemic changes that have facilitated growth in the field and examines related issues and controversies. The author calls for continued development of an empirical base to guide both theory development and practice standards. The author also calls for openness to change within the field so that new developments will lead to appropriate dialogue and debate, increased dissemination and translation of new research findings into formats that are useful to clinicians, and accountability and change in abusers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present effort is to examine the experiences of Black victim-defendants. To begin, an integration of both the family violence gender symmetry perspective and the contextual perspective is reviewed, with a particular focus on Black women's use of violence within heterosexual relationships. The concept of bidirectional asymmetric violence is then developed as a result of that integration. This is followed by an exploration of possible factors that may contribute to Black women's overrepresentation in the legal system, including the enactment of mandatory arrest laws. Because feminist scholars have used life histories to document the experiences of Black victim-defendants to good effect, a detailed description of the experiences of a one particular Black victim-defendant is then presented in order to provide a real-world example of such factors. Finally, strategies for advocacy and intervention are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In jurisdictions across the United States, the mandated arrest of individuals perpetrating domestic violence crimes termed “mandatory arrest” or “pro-arrest” policies has become a key policy solution to the issue of domestic violence. The purposes of the policies are to standardize the police response to, and increase the number of, arrests stemming from domestic violence incidents by removing or reducing police discretion to arrest. In 1994, the New York state legislature passed the Family Protection and Domestic Violence Intervention Act, which contained provisions enacting a mandatory arrest statute. Using information from 183 callers to a telephone helpline for victims of domestic violence, we describe four unintended consequences of the policy: “unwanted,” “dual,” “retaliatory,” and “no” arrest. Bi-and multivariate analyses are used to identify victim and perpetrator sociodemographic, situational, and legal factors associated with each arrest type. Results are discussed in the context of the effects of mandatory arrest policies and minimizing problems associated with it in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mandated arrest of domestic violence perpetrators is a policy response to the problem of partner violence. Mandatory arrest can result, however, in unintended and sometimes undesirable arrest outcomes, including dual arrests (when both parties are arrested), retaliatory arrests (when the perpetrator has his or her partner wrongfully arrested), and failures to make an arrest (when one is warranted by law). Using an interactionist perspective, this research focuses on one negative effect of mandatory arrest: the identity challenge faced by female victims of domestic violence who experience undesirable arrest outcomes. The authors discuss policy implications, focusing on the potential empowerment effects of mandatory arrest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom about the appropriate police response to domestic violence has changed dramatically in recent years, characterized by an increasing move toward mandatory arrest. This paper examines an effort by the Vacaville, California Police Department to provide a more comprehensive response to domestic violence, through an innovative law enforcement, clinical, and prosecutorial partnership (called FIRST). The paper employs interrupted time series analysis (ARIMA) with monthly domestic violence arrest data from 1990 to 2000 to investigate the impact of the program. ARIMA results are considered in the context of more general crime trends. Results suggest that the onset of the program coincided with an initial increase in arrests, followed by a longer‐term decrease. Although other potential explanations could not be eliminated, findings indicate that the FIRST program played a contributing role in the reduction of domestic violence in Vacaville . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite five replications, subsequent synthesis of data from domestic violence arrest studies, and years of active and often impassioned debate, in the twenty-three years since the end of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment, domestic violence research suffers from a conceptual rut. Individual-level interventions still ground domestic violence response, and questions remain regarding the efficacy of arrest for a suspect with a low "stake in conformity." This paper proposes two alternative theoretical models based on advances in feminist scholarship, batterer treatment, and the emergence of a literature on collective efficacy. The first model emphasizes an individual's stake in conformity while the second focuses on community-level, informal social controls. A preliminary look at the relationship between individual- and community-level treatments, using data collected over thirty months from 474 subjects arrested for domestic violence offenses, suggests that more research is needed to address the interplay between these types of interventions and the role they may play in reducing domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent increases in the number of women arrested for domestic violence raise important questions about implementation of proarrest policies, equivalency of intimate partner aggression across genders, and management of female domestic violence offenders. This study compares demographic characteristics, criminal history variables, and the past domestic violence history of men (n = 5,578) and women (n = 1,126) arrested for domestic assault against a heterosexual intimate partner. Using victim reported information and data collected by local criminal justice agencies, we found that female arrestees were significantly less likely than males to have histories that warrant concern regarding the potential for future violence. Implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, domestic violence (DV) has been viewed as a private matter, which limited law enforcement's response to incidents of DV. Shifting perceptions of DV over time and a rise in public pressure to protect DV victims led to efforts within the criminal justice system to better respond to DV incidents. Specifically, mandatory arrest policies, driven by the landmark Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment, were widely adopted in an effort to reduce the likelihood of repeat offending and by effect revictimization. Subsequent replications of the experiment tended to find that arrest of DV offenders did not reduce the likelihood of another offense being committed over the follow-up period. To make sense of the mixed findings regarding the efficacy of mandatory arrest for DV, the current meta-analysis synthesizes the results of 11 published studies to determine whether arrest has an effect on crimes being committed following an arrest for DV. The results of the meta-analysis indicate that arrest did not limit the likelihood of another offense being committed during the follow-up periods and likely did not have a deterrent effect on DV offenders. Moderating variables, including research design and length of follow-up, were also analyzed. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed. • Research findings conflict on the efficacy of mandatory arrest policies for domestic violence in reducing repeat offending • Meta-analytic procedure used to synthesize the results of studies to determine the effect of arrest for domestic violence on repeat offending • Arrest for domestic violence found to be ineffective in limiting repeat offending • Reconsideration of mandatory arrest policies is recommended as arrest is not likely to serve as a deterrent for perpetrators of domestic violence [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze how victim perceptions of mandatory arrest policies, perpetrator substance use, and presence of children are related to decisions to invoke law enforcement assistance. Logistic regression was used on survey responses from women receiving care in domestic violence shelters. Results suggest that as victim support for mandatory arrest increases, the odds of law enforcement notification of the abuse also increase. Accordingly, mandatory arrest may simply be reducing the probability of reporting intimate partner violence (IPV) among those who do not support the policy, instead of reducing IPV. Results also suggest that perpetrator substance use plays a significant role in law enforcement notification., (© The Author(s) 2014.)