Abstract
Despite the high incidence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the United States, perpetrator accountability remains a problem. Research suggests this is partially attributable to underreporting linked to the perceived unhelpfulness of police. The purpose of this research study was to understand survivors and service providers’ lived experiences with police in a mandatory arrest state. Purposive sampling was utilized to conduct in-depth, semi-structured focus groups and interviews with 43 survivors and 59 service providers from March 2016 to February 2017. Data analysis consisted of line-by-line analysis, identifying themes, coding categories, and developing matrices to uncover relationships between themes and categories. Participants deliberated police failure to adequately respond to IPV-related calls. While survivors’ interactions with police were consistently negative, service providers’ experiences were more mixed. Police response was deemed worse in rural areas due to limited capacity and social relationships with perpetrators. Five major themes were identified, including: (1) inadequate police response, (2) amplified hurdles in rural communities, (3) predominant aggressor incongruity, (4) protective orders fail to protect, and (5) Lethality Assessment Program (LAP) working relationships. Mandatory arrest policy sometimes results in the criminalization of survivors. Police require trauma-informed training that will assist in their determination of the predominant aggressor. Findings indicate that the LAP has been effective in strengthening service provider/police relationships, and expansion should be considered. Quantitative and longitudinal research is needed to examine the fidelity of the LAP and its effectiveness in decreasing the incidence of IPV-related homicide.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Bar Association. (2011). Domestic violence arrest policies by state. Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/groups/domestic_violence/Initiatives/statutory_summary_charts/
Birks, M., & Mills, J. (2015). Grounded theory: A practical guide (2nd ed.). London: SAGE.
Blumberg, D. M., Schlosser, M. D., Papazoglou, K., Creighton, S., & Kaye, C. C. (2019). New directions in police academy training: A call to action. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 4941. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244941.
Breiding, M. J., Basile, K. C., Smith, S. G., Black, M. C., & Mahendra, R. (2015). Intimate partner violence surveillance uniform definitions and recommended data elements: Version 2.0. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2017). Police response to domestic violence, 2006–2015 (DOJ publication no. NCJ 250231). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Burnette, C. E. (2014). From the ground up: Indigenous women’s after violence experiences with the formal service system in the United States. The British Journal of Social Work, 45(5), 1526–1545. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu013.
Cerulli, C., Edwardsen, E. A., Hall, D., Chan, K. L., & Conner, K. R. (2015). Improving coordinated responses for victims of intimate partner violence: Law enforcement compliance with state-mandated intimate partner violence documentation. Violence Against Women, 21(7), 897–907. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801215584072.
Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory (2nd ed.). London: SAGE.
Cohabitant Abuse Procedures Act, Utah Code Ann. § 77–36-2.2 (2013). https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title77/Chapter36/77-36-S2.2.html
Cooper, A., & Smith, E. L. (2011). Homicide trends in the United States, 1980–2008. (DOJ publication no. NCJ 236018). Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Dichter, M. E. (2013). “They arrested me–and I was the victim”: Women’s experiences with getting arrested in the context of domestic violence. Women & Criminal Justice, 23(2), 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2013.759068.
Durfee, A. (2012). Situational ambiguity and gendered patterns of arrest for intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 18(1), 64–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801212437017.
Eastman, B. J., & Bunch, S. G. (2007). Providing services to survivors of domestic violence: A comparison of rural and urban service provider perceptions. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22(4), 465–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260506296989.
Fedina, L., Backes, B. L., Jun, H.-J., DeVylder, J., & Barth, R. P. (2019). Police legitimacy, trustworthiness, and associations with intimate partner violence. Policing: An International Journal, 42(5), 901–916. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-04-2019-0046.
Felson, R. B., Ackerman, J. M., & Gallagher, C. (2005). Police intervention and the repeat of domestic assault. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/210301.pdf
Friedman, B. (2020). Disaggregating the police function (public law and legal theory research paper series working paper no. 20-03). Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3564469
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. (2020). In pursuit of peace: Building police- community trust to break the cycle of violence. Retrieved from https://giffords.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Giffords-Law-Center-In-Pursuit-of-Peace.pdf
Goodman-Delahunty, J., & Crehan, A. C. (2016). Enhancing police responses to domestic violence incidents: Reports from client advocates in New South Wales. Violence Against Women, 22(8), 1007–1026. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801215613854.
Gover, A. R., Paul, D. P., & Dodge, M. (2011). Law enforcement officers' attitudes about domestic violence. Violence Against Women, 17(5), 619–636. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801211407477.
Horwitz, S. H., Mitchell, D., LaRussa-Trott, M., Santiago, L., Pearson, J., Skiff, D. M., & Cerulli, C. (2011). An inside view of police officers’ experience with domestic violence. Journal of Family Violence, 26(8), 617–625. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-011-9396-y.
Iyengar, R. (2009). Does the certainty of arrest reduce domestic violence? Evidence from mandatory and recommended arrest laws. Journal of Public Economics, 93(1–2), 85–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2008.09.006.
Jeffrey, N., Fairbairn, J., Campbell, M., Dawson, M., Jaffe, P., & Straatman, A. L. (2018). Literature review on risk assessment, risk management and safety planning. London, ON: Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative.
Klein, A. R. (2009). Practical implications of current domestic violence research for law enforcement, prosecutors and judges (DOJ publication no. NCJ 225722). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Kovera, M. B. (2019). Racial disparities in the criminal justice system: Prevalence, causes, and a search for solutions. Journal of Social Issues, 75(4), 1139–1164. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12355.
Lanier, C., & Maume, M. O. (2009). Intimate partner violence and social isolation across the rural/urban divide. Violence Against Women, 15(11), 1311–1330. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801209346711.
Li, S., Levick, A., Eichman, A., & Chang, J. C. (2015). Women’s perspectives on the context of violence and role of police in their intimate partner violence arrest experiences. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(3), 400–419. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514535100.
Messing, J. T., Becerra, D., Ward-Lasher, A., & Androff, D. K. (2015b). Latinas’ perceptions of law enforcement: Fear of deportation, crime reporting, and trust in the system. Affilia, 30(3), 328–340. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109915576520.
Messing, J. T., Campbell, J., Webster, D. W., Brown, S., Patchell, B., & Wilson, J. S. (2015a). The Oklahoma lethality assessment study: A quasi-experimental evaluation of the lethality assessment program. Social Service Review, 89(3), 499–530. https://doi.org/10.1086/683194.
Novisky, M. A., & Peralta, R. L. (2015). When women tell: Intimate partner violence and the factors related to police notification. Violence Against Women, 21(1), 65–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801214564078.
Ragusa, A. T. (2013). Rural Australian women's legal help seeking for intimate partner violence: Women intimate partner violence victim survivors' perceptions of criminal justice support services. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 28(4), 685–717. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260512455864.
Reaves, B. A. (2016). State and local law enforcement training academies, 2013 (DOJ publication no. NCJ 249784). Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Russell, B. (2018). Police perceptions in intimate partner violence cases: The influence of gender and sexual orientation. Journal of Crime and Justice, 41(2), 193–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2017.1282378.
Saxton, M. D., Olszowy, L., MacGregor, J. C. D., MacQuarrie, B. J., & Wathen, C. N. (2018). Experiences of intimate partner violence victims with police and the justice system in Canada. Journal of Interpersonal Violence., 088626051875833. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518758330.
Sechrist, S. M., & Weil, J. D. (2018). Assessing the impact of a focused deterrence strategy to combat intimate partner domestic violence. Violence Against Women, 24(3), 243–265. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801216687877.
Shenton, A. K. (2004). Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects. Education for Information, 22, 63–75. https://doi.org/10.3233/EFI-2004-22201.
Shepherd, J. (2001). Where do you go when it’s 40 below? Domestic violence among rural Alaskan native women. Affilia, 16(4), 488–510. https://doi.org/10.1177/08861090122094389.
Smith, S. G., Zhang, X., Basile, K. C., Merrick, M. T., Wang, J., Kresnow, M., & Chen, J. (2018). The national intimate partner and sexual violence survey (NISVS): 2015 data brief – Updated release. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tam, D. M., Tutty, L. M., Zhuang, Z., & Paz, E. (2015). Racial minority women and criminal justice responses to domestic violence. Journal of Family Violence, 31, 527–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9794-7.
United States Census Bureau. (n.d.). QuickFacts Utah. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/UT?
Van Hightower, N. R., & Gorton, J. (2002). A case study of community-based responses to rural woman battering. Violence Against Women, 8(7), 845–872. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780102400388506.
Voices for Utah Children. (2016). A tale of two Utahs: How do urban and rural Utah measure up? Salt Lake City, UT: Author.
Ward-Lasher, A., Messing, J. T., & Hart, B. (2017). Policing intimate partner violence: Attitudes toward risk assessment and collaboration with social workers. Social Work, 62(3), 211–218. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swx023.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition for their assistance with this project. I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers who provided insightful comments on initial drafts of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
I have no conflicts of interest nor funding to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gezinski, L.B. “It’s Kind of Hit and Miss with Them”: a Qualitative Investigation of Police Response to Intimate Partner Violence in a Mandatory Arrest State. J Fam Viol 37, 99–111 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-020-00227-4
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-020-00227-4