Citation

Millar P, Brown G. Partner Abuse 2010; 1(3): 314-331.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Springer Publishing)

DOI

10.1891/1946-6560.1.3.314

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Family violence is a major social problem that police forces have begun to deal with seriously over the last two decades. Most research and policy on this subject has focused on police action in response to violence against women. This is a study of police arrest and charging behavior in spousal violence cases that include both genders and so allows the analysis of police response to violence against men as well as women. Factors affecting the likelihood of an arrest or charge in spousal violence cases are analyzed using a two-year sample of spousal violence police cases (N = 2,935) from a medium-sized Canadian city. The explanatory variables include marital status, intoxication, degree of injury to the man or woman, use of a weapon and a whether the event was a repeat call to the same address. Results indicate differential effects of intoxication, use of a weapon, and injury by gender on both arresting and charging.