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The purpose of this paper is to use expectancy motivation theory to test the influence of organizational work environment on aggregate patrol officer arrest activity with regard to domestic violence incidents.

According to expectancy motivational theory, the aggregate frequency of an individual officer's arrests at domestic violence incidents should be explained by the expectation to make domestic violence arrests, the capability to do so, the opportunity to do so, and the likelihood that these arrests will be rewarded. The present study used survey data from a sample of 401 municipal police officers representing 23 suburban police agencies in one metropolitan area in the midwestern USA. Multivariate analysis was used to investigate correlations between the officers' perceived work environment characteristics and their aggregate domestic violence arrest activity.

As predicted, officers who, in the aggregate, resolved the largest proportion of domestic violence incidents with an arrest, were more likely to perceive that domestic violence arrests were rewarded by their agency; operated under a departmental mandatory arrest policy; had received specialized training in domestic violence investigations; were patrol officers, and worked a night shift.

The limitations of this study include the fact that the sample is limited to suburban police officers in one metropolitan area, and the reliance on primarily self‐reported data on officer arrest outputs.

The present study lends further support to the use of expectancy motivation theory as a viable framework for managing officer work outputs in a law enforcement organization.

The paper holds value for police administrators who seek to better manage officer behavior in the field. It holds value for scholars of policing who seek to better understand how the organizational work environment influences general tendencies in officer arrest behavior. Finally, it holds value for domestic violence reformers who are interested in policy reforms that would increase police enforcement efforts against domestic violence.

The purpose of this paper is to explore lawsuits involving police response to domestic violence incidents. Focusing on the specific legal remedy of due process under Section 1983, the paper seeks to examine federal case law dealing with police response to domestic violence victims. The paper also aims to discuss differences in procedural and substantive due process violations, highlighting circumstances under which the police may be held liable for improper response to domestic violence incidents.

This paper qualitatively examines relevant Section 1983 federal court decisions (n=27 as of May, 2008) identified through a query of Lexis Nexis for the last ten years (before and after Castle Rock) dealing with lawsuits arising from domestic abuse investigations.

The preponderance of cases have resulted in dismissals of summary judgments filed against police officers and agencies for allegations that the police violated plaintiffs' due process rights. The recent Supreme Court decision in Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales has prevented plaintiffs from seeking relief under procedural due process; however, domestic abuse victims have been successful to some extent using substantive due process as a basis for civil action. Plaintiffs have prevailed in federal courts alleging that the police acted with deliberate indifference or conscious disregard for victims' civil rights.

The paper is limited to federal court decisions involving due process violations and does not account for factors resulting in state tort negligence lawsuits filed against the police. Moreover, federal courts will likely continue to use substantive due process as a Section 1983 remedy for domestic violence victims as research and awareness on domestic violence policy evolves.

The paper suggests that police agencies should take note of recent court decisions applicable to their jurisdictions as domestic violence enforcement policy remains fragmented. Agencies should ensure that police dispatcher 911 call classification policies are current and that training guidelines comport with these policies.

Given the prevalence of domestic violence in the USA, police agencies should expect increases in the number of lawsuits filed against the police for violations of substantive due process.

Comparative research provides a mechanism to understand how justice systems throughout the world operate. McPhedran et al. (2017) conducted a comparative examination of police officer attitudes about domestic violence (DV) in the USA and Australia and reported fairly high levels of agreement among male and female officers within each country. The current study builds on these findings by examining officer attitudes toward DV among male and female officers cross-nationally. This was accomplished by examining whether American and Australian male and female officers agree with one another on a number of DV issues.

Two-way ANOVA was used to examine the effect of two factors (gender and country) on law enforcement officer attitudes about DV.

The results suggest that male and female officers from the USA and Australia significantly differ on 14 of 24 attitudes about DV with the greatest number of attitudinal differences found between American and Australian male officers.

Scholars who conduct future research examining police officer attitudes about DV should use the instrument from this study as a springboard to develop an updated survey in terms of content and one that would be applicable to cross-national analyses. Methodological study limitations are described in depth in McPhedran et al. (2017).

While gender differences in attitudes have received scholarly attention, questions remain regarding the degree to which attitudes align among male and female officers across different countries. The current study seeks to fill these gaps in knowledge by examining attitudes about DV between American and Australian law enforcement officers.

The police have been given the responsibility of the first response to domestic violence. Their performance in this role has been inconsistent and often inadequate. While many departments have the capacity to improve their response, the police acting alone are often poorly staffed and ill equipped to provide purposeful, proactive change. This study examines the efficacy of a domestic violence coordinated response team pilot project. In an effort to improve the police response and to reduce repeat incidents among intimate partners, this project teamed uniformed police officers and victim advocates as first responders/follow‐up investigators, and augmented them with personnel from probation, parole and corrections services. The pilot project concentrated exclusively on violence between intimate partners. Over 18,000 domestic violence calls for service were reviewed. Evaluators identified and extracted over 4,000 bona fide intimate partner domestic violence cases. The study found the specialized domestic violence unit performed significantly better than the control district. Higher arrest, prosecution and conviction rates resulted from cases initiated by the specialized unit. Factors impacting performance of the unit are explored and observations made concerning evaluation difficulties and strategies.

Family Justice Centers, or “one-stop shops” that enable domestic violence victims to access a range of services at one location, are becoming increasingly common. However, there is a limited body of research examining the outcomes and planning processes of these Centers. The early phases of planning Centers are critical to their initial and ongoing success. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues.

In total, 15 stakeholders in a community in the early phases of planning a Center were interviewed.

Content analysis procedures were used to identify themes related to participants’ ideas about what the Family Justice Center should look like (e.g. services to include and perceived benefits and challenges for the Center), the steps required for planning it (e.g. identifying the purpose of the Center, getting key people involved, and building collaborations), and desired technologies.

This paper is the first known research effort to examine the early phases of development in constructing a Family Justice Center.

Ever since the Prime Minister's leaked report on drug policy, the UK government has repeatedly refused to reveal its most damning figures on drug trafficking and failed efforts to stop it. More figures are out now in a new report. Despite the spin, it makes for equally bleak reading and because of the spin, it smacks of a cover up. Steve Rolles reveals just how many billions of pounds of drug‐profit the Government doesn't want us to know about and what the Government admits they can't do to stop it.

Holding domestic violence perpetrators accountable for their abusive behavior is the number one objective of batterer intervention programs (BIPs), typically consisting of same‐sex psychoeducational counseling groups. However, such programs have been found to be only marginally successful in reducing recidivism rates. To be more effective, programs need to take into account the complexities of intimate partner violence. The purpose of this article is to offer clinicians working in the field of partner violence suggestions to help them enlist client cooperation and teach responsibility while taking into account the prevalence of mutual abuse dynamics.

The article draws on findings from the research literature as well as the author's 20 years of clinical experience conducting domestic violence offender treatment groups for both men and women.

Among individuals court‐mandated to batterer intervention, many are involved in mutually‐abusive relationships. Emerging literature indicates that some are also primarily victims. This poses a dilemma for batterer intervention group facilitators, who must work within a legal framework in which individuals are deemed to be either perpetrators or victims.

Implications of this article for partner violence policy and practice include a need for more flexible, evidence‐based laws on partner violence.

There are few practice articles on working with the various forms of abuse dynamics within a clinical setting, and this is the first that is focused on group treatment. The article should be of value to clinicians working directly with domestic violence perpetrators and victims, as well as to the policy makers who conceptualize, create and fund these programs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine domestic violence calls for service data in one Florida county for a two-year period from July 2004 through July 2006.

Data for this study include information gathered on domestic violence calls for service during a two-year period (n=3,200). This secondary data were analyzed by logistic regression to determine statistically significant predictor variables.

This study found that severity of crime, presence of children, presence of an injunction, and victim injury increased the likelihood of an arrest. Victim race, location of call, victim alcohol use, and length of relationship did not affect likelihood of arrest.

Use of secondary data precluded examination of additional relevant variable information.

The research shows clear law violations and seriousness of the acts correlate to an increased likelihood of an arrest. Arrest research should inform police training and policy.

The research is consistent with other research that shows that law enforcement officers continue to play a significant role in responding to domestic violence crime and suggest that researchers should continue to study arrest practices. In this study, arrest was more likely when factors existed that may have indicated a more serious crime.

There is an ongoing need to examine agency-level response to domestic violence. This paper adds to the literature on the law enforcement response to domestic violence. The paper suggests areas for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of extra-legal and legal predictors on dual arrest outcome for men and women arrested for domestic violence.

This study analyzed 4,163 heterosexual domestic violence incidents over a five-year period (2002-2006). Using bivariate analyses and gender-stratified logistic regression this study: identified the variables associated with dual arrest; identified the extra-legal and legal predictors’ of dual arrest; and determined whether there were significant differences between police dispositions of women and men.

Bivariate analyses indicated that women were more likely to be dually arrested than men. For women, logistic regression analyses indicated who contacted the police increased their likelihood of dual arrest. For men, logistic regression analysis indicated being a victim in a prior domestic violence, who used alcohol and/or drugs, who contacted the police, and seriousness of incident impacted their likelihood of being dually arrested.

Results demonstrate that law enforcement officers may not be recognizing male victims of domestic violence as legitimate victims.

This research is situated within the larger body of literature around women and men arrested for domestic violence and contributes to the limited literature regarding the effect of men’s prior domestic violence victimization on dual arrest outcome.

Whether they are research summaries or state of affairs pieces, existing commentaries are critical of police response to domestic violence calls. Charged with leisurely response times, being reluctant to make an arrest, devaluing victims, siding with batterers, or subverting new policies, the police are depicted as part of the problem rather than as part of the solution. Interviews with working police officers and their chiefs suggest this view is at odds with police perceptions of domestic violence. This paper describes a police “voice” about domestic violence through an analysis of intensive interview responses by 21 patrol officers and six police chiefs in departments located in a rural county in New York State. The data suggest police definitions of the domestic violence situation are developed from the nexus of separate views they have of “victim”, “perpetrator”, “event”, “self”, and the “law.” These views are described and implications for policy implementation are discussed.