Police Responses to Woman Battering: Victim Advocates' Reports*
| Published date | 01 January 2000 |
| Author | Joanne Belknap,Jennifer L. Hartman |
| Date | 01 January 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800000700309 |
Domestic
Violence:
Global
Responses,
pp.
159-177
©
2000
A B
Academic
Publishers
Printed
in
Great
Britain
POLICE
RESPONSES
TO
WOMAN
BATTERING:
VICTIM
ADVOCATES'
REPORTS*
JOANNE
BELKNAP#
and
JENNIFER
L.
HARTMANt
#Department
of
Sociology,
Campus
Box
327,
University
of
Colorado,
Boulder,
CO
80309-0327.
e-maill
Joanne.Belknap@Colorado.EDU
t
College
of
Criminal
Justice,
Northeastern
University,
Boston,
MA
02115,
USA.
ABSTRACT
Most
of
the
research
on
police
responses
to
battered
women
has
been
conducted
by
surveying
or
observing
the
police
or
by
using
forms
completed
by
the
police.
This
study
takes
a
unique
approach
by
using
data collected
by
advocates
for
battered
women
in
two
agencies
in
a
large
metropolitan
area
of
the
United
States.
In
1992
shelter
(refuge)
workers
and
workers
at
a
women
victims' hotline
agency
developed
a
one-page
form
to
be
filled
out
by
advocates
for
woman
battering
calls
they
received
in
person
(not
over
the
phone).
The
forms
were
specifically
designed
to
assess
the
reasons
why
the
police
were
called
and
what
was
their
response.
Two-hundred-and-fifty-nine
forms
were
completed
and
provide
the
data
base
for
this
study.
The
study
found
that
the
police
responses
(both
positive
and
negative)
differed
according
to
which
victim
advocacy
agency
was
involved,
whether
the
responding
department
was
the
major
urban
department
(which
had
a
pro-arrest
policy)
or
one
of
the
surrounding
smaller
departments
(without
pro-arrest
policies),
whether
a
threat
of
violence
was
a
reason
why
the
police
were
called,
and
whether
a
weapon
was
involved.
The
remaining
three
reasons
why
the
police
were
called
rarely
impacted
on
their
responses;
that
is,
whether
a
reason
the
police
were
called
included
a
sexual
assault,
property
damage,
or
a
violated
1POffRO.
Notably,
whether
a
(non-sexual)
physical
assault
was
a
reason
the
police
were
called
was
never
related
to
any
of
the
police
responses.
During the 1980s and 1990s there have been two general areas
of
empirical
research on police responses to woman battering. The first involves those studies
evaluating the effectiveness
of
arrest on the recidivism
of
batterers, popularly
known as the Minneapolis Experiment, together with its replications (e.g., Berk
and Newton, 1985; Dunford, 1992; Hirschel and Hutchinson, 1992; Jaffe, Wolfe,
Telforde and Austin, 1986; Sherman and Berk, 1984; Sherman et al., 1992). The
second area involves research examining variables potentially related to the
arrest decision (e.g., Belknap, 1995; Berk and Loseke, 1981; Burris and Jaffe,
1983; Buzawa and Austin, 1993; Dolon, Hendricks and Meagher, 1986; Ferraro,
1989; Gondolf and McFerron, 1989; Hanmer, 1989; Hatty, 1989; Smith and
* This article
is
based
on
a
paper
presented
at
the
1996
annual
meeting
of
the
American
Society
of
Criminology,
Chicago,
IL,
November.
The
authors
would
like
to
thank
coordinators
from
both
battered women's
advocacy
agencies
for
their
helpful
comments
in
clarifying
the
findings.
160
Klein,
1984;
Waaland
and
Keeley,
1985;
Worden
and
Pollitz,
1984;
Zoomer,
1989).
More
recently
some
scholars
have
noted
that
responses
to
battered
women
should
be
more
systemic
in
nature,
that
is,
treatment
and
input
from
the
courts,
social
workers
and
medical
personnel;
and
that
victim
advocates
should
be
assessed
when
examining
the
relationship
between
woman
battering
and
'the
system'
(Belknap
and
McCall,
1994;
Dolan
et
al.,
1986;
Gamache,
Edleson
and
Schock,
1988;
Mullarkey,
1988;
Rowe,
1985).
One
might
also
conclude that
an
analysis of police responses
should
not
come
solely
from
police officers, but
also
from
those
who
work
with
and
advocate
on
behalf of battered
women,
and
from
the
victims themselves
(Bachman
and
Coker,
1995;
Erez
and
Belknap,
1996;
Websdale,
1995).
Unlike
most
of
the
existing
studies
on
police
responses
to
woman
battering,
the
present
study
is
an
attempt
to
collect
data
on
police
responses
by
using
workers
in
organizations
engaged
in
advocacy
for
female
victims
of
male
violence.
This
is
an
important
distinction
given
that
advocates
for
battered
women
are
trained
and
expected
to
understand
the
dynamics
of
woman
battering
and
the
special
problems
battered
women
experience
in
leaving
violent
men.
Generally,
the
same
cannot
be
said
for
most
police officers
(Man-
ning,
1992;
Oppenlander,
1982;
Schecter,
1982;
Stanko,
1989;
Zoomer,
1989).
METHOD
In
1992
two
women
victims'
advocacy
groups
in
a
large
metropolitan area of
the
United
States
joined
forces
to
record
police
responses
to
battered
women.
One
group
was
part
of
the
local
Young
Women's
Christian
Association
(Y.W.C.A.),
popular throughout
the
U.S.
for
running
various
programs
for
females
(and
males)
and
directing battered women's
shelters
(refuges).
The
other
group
was
responsible
for
a 24-hour
hotline
and
24-hour
availability of hospital
and
court
assistance advocates
for
battered
women
(and
rape
victims).
Leaders
from
each
group
worked
together
to
develop
a
one-page
survey
to
monitor
the
level
and
quality of police
responses
to
battered
women.
The
forms
were
completed
by
staff personnel (trained
advocates
from
the
shelter
and
the
24-hour violence
against
women
organization).
On
each
form,
a
number
of
options
could
be
checked regarding
the
reasons
why
the
police
were
called,
how
they
responded,
and
any
problems
with
their
response.
1
In
addition
to
the
quantitative data,
respondents (victim
advocates)
could
write
comments
about
the
police respon-
ses.
This
study
is
an
analysis
of
the
259
forms
completed
between
1993
and
1994.
The
second author
read
through
all
of
the
259
forms
and
created a codebook
for
the
analysis of various
responses.
Both
the
closed-ended (quantitative) responses
and
the qualitative data
were
entered
into
a
database.
The
analyses
consisted of
frequencies
(to
determine
the
rates
of
reported
phenomena)
and
bivariate
and
multivariate analyses
(to
determine
whether
significant relationships between
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