Assessing the risk: What police reports reveal about domestic violence escalation.

摘要

The police are first responders in cases of domestic violence, yet there is little research examining the role that police data may play in the assessment of future intimate partner violence, escalation and/or homicide. The purpose of this research was to examine a sample (n=904) of Oakland, California police case files to answer the following questions: (1) What factors related to domestic violence recidivism and/or escalation are contained in police case files, and (2) Is it possible to assess the risk that a perpetrator poses to his victim using only information found in these files? Linear regression was utilized to examine characteristics associated with higher levels of violence. Several factors previously found to be related to domestic violence recidivism and/or escalation were found to be significantly associated with increased levels of violence in this sample, such as the use of a weapon and cohabitation without marriage. However, several variables found in previous research to be associated with increased levels of violence were found to be associated with decreased levels of violence in this sample, such as separation and threats to injure/kill the victim. This study also examined factors associated with prosecution for domestic violence. Logistic regression was used to examine the likelihood of prosecution based on perpetrator, victim, and relationship characteristics. Variables with the strongest associations were those related to evidence (eg., the victim's willingness to testify) and the perpetrators involvement with the criminal justice system (eg., being on probation or parole). This research demonstrated that it is possible to collect information pertinent to risk from police case files, but that there are limitations specific to criminal justice data. As research moves forward, it is important to consider the data source as well as to examine future incidents of domestic violence in order to evaluate the predictive validity of these assessments. The implementation of risk assessment with first responders in domestic violence cases may be used to tailor interventions to the risk posed by an offender to his victim and, thus, may improve the social service and criminal justice response to domestic violence.