The Response of Law Enforcement to Violence and Abuse - The Outcome Of Police Intervention

Eve Buzawa and Thomas Austin conducted a landmark study of four precincts of the Detroit Police Department and their responses to domestic violence in 1993. In "Determining Police Response to Domestic Violence Victims" (American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 36, no. 5, May 1993), they documented several factors that affected police decisions to arrest offenders:

• the presence of bystanders or children during the abuse
• the presence of guns and sharp objects as weapons
• an injury resulting from the assault
• the offender and victim sharing the same residence whether they were married or not

TABLE 7.4

Percent of victimizations reported to the police, by type of crime and gender and race or ethnicity of victims, 2002
	Percent of all victimizations reported to the police
Characteristic	Crimes of violence*	Property crimes
Note: Excludes data on persons of "Other" races. Excludes data on persons whose ethnicity was not ascertained.
*Includes data on rape and sexual assault, not shown separately.
SOURCE: "Table 91b. Violent Crimes, 2002: Percent of Victimizations Reported to the Police, by Type of Crime and Gender and Race or Ethnicity of Victims," in Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2002 Statistical Tables, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2002, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cvusst.htm (accessed October 12, 2004)
Total	48.5%	40.2%
Male
White	44.0	40.2
Black	48.0	46.8
Female
White	50.7	38.1
Black	61.7	44.7
Male
Hispanic	47.0	37.5
Non-Hispanic	44.0	41.5
Female
Hispanic	55.5	39.9
Non-Hispanic	52.8	39.4

• the victim's desire to have the offender arrested (of victims who expressed such a desire, arrests were made in 44% of the cases; when the victim did not want the offender arrested, arrests were made in only 21% of the cases)

TABLE 7.5

Percent of reasons for reporting victimizations to the police, by type of crime, 2002
			Percent of reasons for reporting
Type of crime	Numbers of reasons for reporting	Total	Stop or prevent this incident	Needed help due to injury	To recover property	To collect insurance	To prevent further crimes by offender against victim	To prevent crime by offender against anyone	To punish the offender	To catch and find offender	To improve police surveillance	Duty to notify police	Because it was a crime	Some other reason	Not available
Note: Detail may not add to total shown because of rounding. Some respondents may have cited more than one reason for victimizations to the police.
1Estimate is based about 10 or fewer sample cases.
2Includes verbal threats of rape and threats of sexual assault.
SOURCE: "Table 101. Personal and Property Crimes, 2002: Percent of Reasons for Reporting Victimizations to the Police, by Type of Crime," in Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2002 Statistical Tables, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2002, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cvusst.htm (accessed October 12, 2004)
All personal crimes	2,388,410	100%	17.9%	1.7%	5.1%	0.4%	19.1%	10.5%	7.2%	6.9%	4.4%	5.8%	14.6%	4.6%	1.9%
Crimes of violence	2,294,390	100	18.5	1.8	4.1	0.31	19.8	10.5	7.3	6.5	4.6	5.7	14.4	4.5	2.0
Completed violence	944,060	100	14.2	2.91	8.6	0.51	18.7	11.3	8.6	9.1	4.1	4.5	12.9	3.7	0.81
Attempted/threatened violence	1,350,330	100	21.5	1.01	1.01	0.21	20.5	10.0	6.3	4.6	4.9	6.5	15.5	5.1	2.8
Rape/sexual assault2	113,230	100	4.61	0.01	2.01	0.01	21.01	20.71	9.61	17.91	0.01	0.01	18.91	5.31	0.01
Robbery	402,790	100	12.9	2.11	20.5	0.61	11.7	10.5	8.8	8.2	5.21	2.81	14.3	1.81	0.61
Completed/property taken	332,010	100	12.0	0.71	23.7	0.71	10.8	10.11	8.31	9.01	5.31	3.41	13.0	2.21	0.81
With injury	108,980	100	15.41	2.31	12.91	0.01	7.01	10.11	10.61	7.91	0.01	1.91	24.81	4.81	2.41
Without injury	223,040	100	10.41	0.01	29.0	1.01	12.61	10.11	7.11	9.51	7.91	4.11	7.21	0.91	0.01
Attempted to take property	70,770	100	17.21	8.41	5.21	0.01	16.01	12.21	11.41	4.61	4.61	0.01	20.41	0.01	0.01
With injury	47,230	100	5.61	12.51	0.01	0.01	24.01	12.51	11.11	7.01	7.01	0.01	20.41	0.01	0.01
Without injury	23,540	1001	40.41	0.01	15.61	0.01	0.01	11.71	12.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	20.31	0.01	0.01
Assault	1,778,370	100	20.6	1.8	0.61	0.31	21.5	9.9	6.8	5.3	4.7	6.7	14.2	5.1	2.4
Aggravated	525,190	100	13.8	2.11	0.71	0.51	20.8	15.0	9.0	9.7	4.41	6.2	11.9	4.21	1.61
Simple	1,253,180	100	23.5	1.71	0.51	0.21	21.8	7.8	5.9	3.5	4.9	6.9	15.1	5.5	2.8
Purse snatching/pocket picking	94,020	100	2.71	0.01	29.61	2.31	2.71	10.51	4.61	16.11	0.01	7.81	17.81	5.41	0.01
All property crimes	9,064,910	100%	7.6%	0.1%*	24.7%	5.3%	9.9%	6.8%	4.1%	7.3%	6.3%	6.0%	17.7%	3.0%	1.4%
Household burglary	2,468,020	100	10.4	0.21	19.9	4.0	12.2	6.4	4.8	7.5	7.2	5.5	18.4	2.2	1.2
Completed	2,191,050	100	9.3	0.21	22.4	4.4	11.2	6.9	5.2	7.1	6.5	5.7	17.5	2.3	1.21
Forcible entry	1,233,030	100	9.3	0.41	19.3	4.9	11.3	7.7	6.4	7.5	7.7	6.7	15.3	2.01	1.41
Unlawful entry without force	958,020	100	9.3	0.01	26.4	3.9	11.1	5.9	3.8	6.6	5.0	4.4	20.2	2.71	0.91
Attempted forcible entry	276,970	100	19.7	0.01	0.01	0.91	20.0	2.31	1.61	10.31	12.9	3.51	25.7	1.61	1.51
Motorvehicle theft	1,050,840	100	4.8	0.01	35.5	10.3	6.1	5.6	4.9	7.2	6.8	5.5	11.7	1.31	0.31
Completed	904,690	100	4.6	0.01	41.0	10.3	4.1	4.7	5.0	7.6	4.3	5.2	11.5	1.61	0.01
Attempted	146,150	100	6.01	0.01	1.41	10.21	18.51	10.91	4.31	4.51	21.9	7.21	13.31	0.01	1.81
Theft	5,546,050	100	6.8	0.11	24.7	4.9	9.5	7.2	3.7	7.2	5.8	6.3	18.6	3.6	1.7
Completed	5,355,180	100	6.6	0.11	25.6	4.7	9.6	7.1	3.7	7.1	5.6	6.3	18.5	3.5	1.6
Attempted	190,870	100	11.01	0.01	0.01	8.81	8.01	11.01	2.51	8.61	10.81	7.51	21.3	5.81	481

TABLE 7.6

Percent of reasons for not reporting victimizations to the police, by type of crime, 2002
		Percent of reasons for not reporting
Type of crime	Number of reasons for not reporting	Total	Reported to another official	Private or personal matter	Object recovered; offender unsuccessful	Not important enough	Insurance would not cover
Note: Detail may not add to total shown because of rounding.
Some respondents may have cited more than one reason for not reporting victimizations to the police.
1Estimate is based on about 10 or fewer sample cases.
2Included verbal threats of rape and threats of sexual assault.
SOURCE: "Table 102. Personal and Property Crimes, 2002: Percent of Reasons for Not Reporting Victimizations to the Police, by Type of Crime," in Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2002 Statistical Tables, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2002, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cvusst.htm (accessed October 12, 2004)
All personal crimes	3,200,150	100%	17.0%	21.2%	15.7%	4.9%	0.1%1
Crimes of violence	3,105,890	100	17.1	21.7	15.8	5.1	0.11
Completed violence	830,960	100	14.2	17.4	9.5	1.71	0.31
Attempted/threatened violence	2,274,930	100	18.2	23.3	18.1	6.3	0.01
Rape/sexual assault2	133,690	100	2.71	8.61	9.21	3.81	0.01
Robbery	196,020	100	9.01	6.91	10.71	5.51	1.41
Completed/property taken	138,080	100	8.11	4.31	10.71	1.81	2.01
With injury	59,820	100	0.01	4.21	9.11	4.11	4.61
Without injury	78,260	100	14.41	4.31	11.91	0.01	0.01
Attempted to take property	57,940	100	10.91	13.41	10.91	14.31	0.01
With injury	3,1301	1001	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
Without injury	54,810	100	11.51	14.11	11.51	15.11	0.01
Assault	2,776,190	100	18.4	23.4	16.5	5.1	0.01
Aggravated	478,910	100	10.5	22.2	8.3	4.71	0.01
Simple	2,297,280	100	20.0	23.7	18.2	5.2	0.01
Purse snatching/pocket picking	94,260	100	11.91	2.81	10.11	0.01	0.01
All property crimes	12,958,170	100%	9.7%	5.2%	25.7%	3.4%	2.4%
Household burglary	1,685,780	100	3.9	4.9	21.0	3.2	3.0
Completed	1,397,180	100	2.8	4.2	20.3	3.7	3.6
Forcible entry	303,380	100	2.81	5.01	12.1	0.91	2.31
Unlawful entry without force	1,093,800	100	2.9	4.0	22.5	4.5	3.9
Attempted forcible entry	288,600	100	8.91	8.21	24.4	0.71	0.01
Motor vehicle theft	152,140	100	9.91	6.21	32.0	1.41	1.51
Completed	30,2101	1001	7.61	23.71	12.61	0.01	0.01
Attempted	121,930	100	10.51	1.91	36.8	1.81	1.91
Theft	11,120,240	100	10.6	5.2	26.3	3.4	2.4
Completed	10,754,160	100	10.7	5.1	25.9	3.4	2.4
Attempted	366,080	100	7.61	7.91	38.4	4.61	1.91

Interviewing 110 victims, Buzawa and Austin found that 85% of victims were satisfied with the police response. Not surprisingly, they were particularly satisfied when the police responded to their preferences for arresting or not arresting the offenders.

Lynette Feder, in "Police Handling of Domestic and Nondomestic Assault Calls: Is There a Case for Discrimination?" (Crime and Delinquency, vol. 44, no. 2, April 1998), found that domestic assault calls are nearly twice as likely to result in arrests than are nondomestic assault calls. However, overall rates of arrest are fairly low—arrests are made in 23% of domestic assault calls and 13% of nondomestic assault calls. Feder identified four variables that determine the probability of arrest: the presence of the offender when the police arrive, the victim's desire for the arrest of the offender, the extent of the victim's injuries, and the offender's disrespectful demeanor toward police.

Victims'Attitudes toward Police Response

Raquel Kennedy Bergen interviewed forty women who had been physically abused and raped by their husbands. In Wife Rape: Understanding the Response of Survivors and Service Providers (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996), she reported that only 37% of the women, or fifteen out of forty, contacted the police for help on at least one occasion. Three women in the study felt it was impossible to call the police because their spouses were members of the police department. One participant reported that during several interviews with the police, the officers made a point of asking embarrassing questions and repeatedly asked for intimate details. Another woman who found the police unresponsive lied to get them to come to her aid. About 80% of victims who did call the police were not satisfied with the officers' responses. Ultimately, only eight of the spouses were charged with rape.

The results of a 2003 study, however, conflicted with Bergen's results. In "Perceptions of the Police by Female Victims of Domestic Partner Violence," researchers

TABLE 7.7

Percent of reasons for not reporting victimizations to the police, by victim-offender relationship and type of crime, 2002
		Percent of reasons for not reporting
Relationship and type of crime	Number of reasons for not reporting	Total	Reported to another official	Private or personal matter	Object recovered; offender unsuccessful	Not important enough	Insurance would not cover	Not aware crime occurred until later	Unable to recover property; no ID no.	Lack of proof	Police would not want to be bothered	Police inefficient ineffective, or biased	Fear of reprisal	Too inconvenient or time consuming	Other reasons
Note: Detail may not add to total shown because of rounding.
Some respondents may have cited more than one reason for not reporting victimizations to the police.
1Estimate is based on about 10 or fewer sample cases.
2Includes verbal threats of rape and threats of sexual assault.
SOURCE: "Table 104. Personal Crimes of Violence, 2002: Percent of Reasons for Not Reporting Victimizations to the Police, by Victim-Offender Relationship and Type of Crime," in Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2002 Statistical Tables, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2002, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cvusst.htm (accessed October 12, 2004)
Involving strangers
Crime of violence	1,457,920	100%	13.3%	18.6%	19.2%	6.5%	0.2%1	0.3%1	0.0%1	5.3%	6.9%	4.6%	3.1%	3.5%	18.7%
Rape/sexual assault2	45,960	100%	0.01	5.01	26.91	0.01	0.01	8.91	0.01	0.01	7.11	7.11	4.61	0.01	40.31
Robbery	120,830	100%	8.71	2.31	10.21	1.81	2.31	0.01	0.01	17.81	6.41	26.6	5.71	4.41	14.01
Assault	1,291,130	100%	14.2	20.6	19.7	7.1	0.01	0.01	0.01	4.4	6.9	2.4	2.8	3.5	18.4
Involving nonstrangers
Crime of violence	1,647,970	100%	20.5	24.5	12.9	3.8	0.01	0.61	0.61	1.11	3.1	1.71	6.0	1.71	23.6
Rape/sexual assault2	87,720	100%	4.11	10.51	0.01	5.81	0.01	0.01	0.01	3.71	0.01	0.01	41.1	0.01	34.7
Robbery	75,190	100%	9.41	14.31	11.61	11.51	0.01	0.01	3.91	10.21	13.71	3.91	3.01	3.41	15.21
Assault	1,485,050	100%	22.0	25.9	13.7	3.3	0.01	0.61	0.51	0.41	2.7	1.71	4.1	1.71	23.4

Robert Apsler, Michele R. Cummins, and Steven Carl investigated "what female victims of domestic violence wanted from the police, the extent to which they perceived they obtained what they wanted, and how helpful they found the actions of the police."

The authors found that women in the study were very satisfied with the police response to their call. They believed the police had been very helpful, and more than 80% of the women said they would definitely call the police for help in the future. The authors emphasized that this police department had recently instituted policies specifically designed to help battered women.

A Source of Frustration

There can be little doubt that "domestic quarrels" cause great frustration to the police. According to the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (October 1997), domestic violence calls repeatedly involve the same homes, diverting resources from other areas while often resulting in no legal action against offenders. Police claim 90% of domestic violence calls are repeat calls and that police typically know the callers by the location. Both victims and police officers find these situations frustrating. Battered women think the police are sometimes insensitive and the officers become exasperated after responding to multiple calls from the same person.

Research has found that few women will file complaints against their batterers. In spite of significant legislative changes, police officers still meet victim resistance to arresting an abusive partner. Furthermore, researchers have documented a fact that many battered women have long suspected: that arrests do not decrease repeat offenses.

Kathleen Ferraro and Lucille Pope, in "Battered Women, Police and the Law" (Legal Responses to Wife Assault [Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1993]), examined the cultural context of law enforcement's attitude to arrest. Based on 440 hours of field observation of the Phoenix, Arizona, police, Ferraro and Pope concluded that among the most influential factors in police attitudes are the officers' background beliefs about race and class. Women from low-income, minority communities are more likely to be seen as "enmeshed in a culture of violence." A specific violent event is likely to be viewed as part of a larger pattern of culture and therefore beyond the scope of police intervention.

Ferraro and Pope found in past research that while the police express frustration that women refuse to press charges, the proportion of cases dropped because of the victim's reluctance—13%—is not much higher than the 10% dropped because of the inadequacy of police reports documenting the evidence. Police blame not only the women for refusing to file charges, but also the courts for undermining the seriousness of the crime by failing to impose jail sentences or probation. A review of court cases cited by Ferraro and Pope found that only one out of 250 cases of wife assault actually ended up with a report to police, a court conviction, and a serious sentence.

Ferraro and Pope observed that some officers resent the time it takes to process an arrest. They view domestic violence calls as a time-consuming effort that could be better devoted to other police work. One officer complained that she was unable to respond to an armed robbery call because she was transporting a woman to a shelter. Police officers are not often rewarded or promoted for their efforts to prevent intimate partner violence but are recognized for their work on high-profile crimes, such as illegal drug trafficking or armed robberies.

Traditional Attitudes Prevail

George Rigakos, in "Constructing the Symbolic Complainant: Police Subculture and the Nonenforcement of Protective Orders from Battered Women" (Violence and Victims, vol. 10, no. 3, 1995), studied how police officers' attitudes influenced the treatment women received in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. He found that a traditional masculine culture contributed to negative stereotypes of women as liars, manipulators, and unreliable witnesses.

According to Rigakos, interviews with police officers and justice officials revealed four major themes. First, justice officials and police felt they were doing all they could for women but contended that other institutions impeded their work. Police officers blamed the legal system, charging the courts with liberally issuing unenforceable restraining and protective orders. In addition, judges issued these orders incorrectly, according to the police. For their part, the justices blamed the police for lack of enforcement. They believed the police misunderstand the law and fail to respond adequately.

Second, the police in this study held conservative attitudes about marriage that resulted in their excusing men's abusive behavior. Officers expressed preferences for women who adhered to traditional behaviors, such as mothering and housekeeping.

Third, because traditional beliefs influenced police attitudes toward the victims, many male officers seemed determined to make the women's behavior appear "unreliable." Some felt that the women were using restraining orders to manipulate their husbands to give themselves advantages in custody battles and divorces. Even some female officers blamed the women.

Fourth, the officers made generalizations that were supported by their beliefs about the women but were not substantiated by official court records. The officers believed that after they had spent tremendous amounts of time and effort to prepare a case, the women frequently did not pursue the charges. These negative perceptions of the women produced "selective memory" that magnified every instance of a battered woman failing to appear to testify against a partner and diminished the number of times when the women followed through with legal action.

Rigakos's survey of court records for 1993 found that out of forty-nine cases, five women were "uncooperative," three were no-shows, one refused to testify, and one stated she had lied. Rigakos concluded that the feelings of betrayal engendered by the small number of women who became reluctant witnesses tended to overshadow the hundreds of successful prosecutions. These few cases stood out because of their strong personal effect on the witnessing officers and their consistency with the officers' prevailing patriarchal views.

Robert J. Kane examined patterns of arrest of batterers who violate restraining orders in "Police Responses to Restraining Orders in Domestic Violence Incidents" (Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 27, no. 5, October 2000). Although all violators in his study were required by Massachusetts state law to be immediately arrested, in reality only between 20% and 40% of violators of restraining orders are taken into custody. Kane found that restraining orders had no significant effect on arrest rate; instead, police perception of imminent danger to the victim was the strongest predictor of arrest. He also found that as the number of domestic violence calls from one victim to police increased, the rate of arrest decreased, regardless of whether a restraining order was in place. Kane suggested that further studies should be done into variations in arrest rates that include personal characteristics of police officers and the social contexts of the couples involved in domestic violence incidents.