Citation

Frye V, Haviland M, Rajah V. J. Fam. Violence 2007; 22(6): 397-405.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10896-007-9094-y

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

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. Biand 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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)