Analysis of Unexamined Issues in the Intimate Partner Homicide Decline: Race, Quality of Victim Services, Offender Accountability, and System Accountability. Final Report

摘要

Since 1976, the United States has witnessed a steady and precipitous decline in intimate partner homicides (Fox 1998; Rennison and Welchans 2000). At first glance, the trend appears to signal success brought about by two decades of criminal justice policy improvement and domestic violence resource enhancement, all of which have been designed to reduce intimate partner violence. Upon closer examination, however, the trend signals much work and scientific analysis remains to be done. Most intriguing is the fact that declining male victimization seems to account for much of the noted plunge. More recently, a few researchers have tackled the complex interaction of variables at play in the homicide decline (Dugan, Nagin, and Rosenfeld 2000, 1999; Rosenfeld 1997) in an attempt to better inform policy decisions, but such efforts have left many questions unanswered. Still, the research has provided important contributions to our understanding of this most persistent social problem.