Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

they see the mentally ill wife as less credible and more

dangerous. Interview studies have found that police

officers are less likely to make an arrest in cases

involving minority victims than when Caucasian vic-

tims are involved. Thus, the guiding decision frame

and stereotypes determine which victims who violate

social norms are more likely to receive protection.

Domestic Battery Versus

Stranger or Acquaintance Battery

Are officers less likely to arrest perpetrators of inti-

mate partner violence than perpetrators of violence

against strangers or acquaintances? Mixed findings

from research indicate that this question has not been

resolved. Research in the 1980s found that both inti-

mate partner and other violent crimes had similar

arrest rates. Research conducted after mandatory

arrest statutes were enacted has revealed inconsistent

findings. Although several studies found that arrest is

less likely to occur in intimate partner battery, these

studies did not ensure that domestic and acquaintance

battery cases were similar and thus were unable

to eliminate alternative explanations. Other research

indicates that whether officers treat acquaintance or

stranger battery cases and domestic violence cases

differently depends on situational characteristics. For

example, when the suspect has fled the initial scene,

officers are more likely to investigate, find, and arrest

stranger or acquaintance batterers than domestic bat-

terers. This bias occurs even though both types of vic-

tim request arrest as often and intimate partners are

more likely to inform officers where the suspect can

be found. Conversely, when the victim is the only wit-

ness, as in a typical domestic violence incident, offi-

cers are more likely to arrest domestic batterers than

stranger or acquaintance batterers. Thus, officers

under some circumstances may respond to domestic

violence differently than to stranger violence, but fur-

ther research is needed to obtain a more complete

understanding of these circumstances.

Officers’ Personal Characteristics

and Decision Making

Several studies have investigated how police officers’

race and gender shape their interpretation and han-

dling of domestic violence situations. Officers’ race

has not been shown to influence their decisions.

However, men and women officers do have different

stereotypes about domestic violence, have different

responses, and consider different criteria. Compared

with men, women tended to perceive that wives more

often acted in self-defense and were more likely to be

the only party injured and that husbands had commit-

ted intentional and unjustifiable violence. Men were

more likely than women to support gender-biased atti-

tudes. Male officers who held gender-biased attitudes

were more likely to believe that few cases of domes-

tic violence involved battered women committing vio-

lence in self-defense.

Despite these differences in beliefs, male and

female rookie officers typically recommended mar-

riage counseling and only in one out of five cases

referred the battered woman to a shelter. After proba-

tionary status, experienced women officers acted more

in accordance with their stereotypic beliefs. Experi-

enced female officers were less likely than males to

recommend marriage counseling and more likely to

refer battered women to shelters.

Male and female officers, regardless of experience,

had similar arrest rates but used different criteria. Both

men and women were more likely to arrest when

injuries were visible or they perceived that severe future

injuries were likely to occur. However, women were

less likely to arrest if the battered woman was willing

to settle the argument, whereas men did not consider

the victim’s preference. Thus, through professional

socialization, women and men developed similar per-

ceptions about their law enforcement role. However,

when women officers had achieved greater job security

and could defend their views, they were more likely to

act on their different beliefs about domestic violence

and received higher satisfaction ratings from victims.

Thus, although women officers do not arrest perpetra-

tors more often, they are more likely to provide support

and information to victims and are less likely to hold

gender-biased attitudes or stereotypes.

Loretta J. Stalans

See alsoPolice Decision Making; Police Training and

Evaluation

Further Readings

Eigenberg, H. M., Scarborough, K. E., & Kappeler, V. E.

(1996). Contributory factors affecting arrest in domestic

and non-domestic assaults. American Journal of Police,

15 (4), 27–53.

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