For this assignment, I have identified three major studies, which I believe helped to criminalize intimate partner violence in the United States. These publications include the original findings of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment (MDVE), the Philadelphia and the Bard studies. Although all of them were useful, one of them is the most noteworthy study because it was the first ever study to test the deterrent power of the police responses on future domestic violence.
The MDVE sought to assess the success of numerous police actions on violence in domestic relationships in Minneapolis (Buzawa et al. 2012). Two experts led this study; the Minneapolis Police Department and the Director of research at the Police Foundation, Mr. Lawrence W. Sherman. In this study, the police randomly selected a percentage of the offenders for arrest, some of them were taken through counseling sessions, and others were separated from their domestic partners. The experiment was designed to investigate which of the three options would help reduce the number of offenders of intimate partner violence. The findings indicate the deterrent effect of arrest, which had unrivaled effect in changing police practices (Gosselin, 2014). As a result, various states implemented policies for mandatory arrests, even without a warrant, for domestic violence cases (Buzawa & Buzawa, 2003).
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The second research that explored intimate partner violence is the Wolfgang homicide study conducted in 1958. As cited in Buzawa and Buzawa (2003), Wolfgang analyzed approximately 588 murders in Philadelphia state. To carry out this study, he extensively analyzed 588 criminal homicide records provided by the Philadelphia police from 1948-1952 (Buzawa et al. 2012). He split the body of his work into three major sections. The first part is composed of the characteristics of the offenders/victims, the second is an offender-victim relationship, and the third group is about consequences of the offender following the homicide incident. The findings show that most homicide cases among families of lower social status were caused by insults and trivial conflicts (Gosselin, 2014).
The third study was the Bard study conducted in 1968. In this study, the researcher gave police officers a month-long course, which was accompanied by other training (Buzawa et al. 2012). These training were motivated by the fact that family disturbances had become the most frequent calls for police. The primary purpose of carrying out this study was to minimize police injury and have officers collaborate more with other social service agencies. The research asserts the value of alternatives to traditional law enforcement strategies in addressing offenders in domestic violence cases (Buzawa et al. 2012). Bard thus recommends that officers must be properly trained in new approaches to respond to domestic violence calls. In the in-service training and course, the officers would separate the parties, calm down the situation, listen to the concerns of each party and try to address the current problem underlying the conflict. Moreover, the officers were trained to give victims a phone number, which they can call to obtain information regarding the available social services (Chapter 11). This approach does not involve arresting any of the parties involved. Rather, it integrates the coercive authority of the law and the psychologist’s knowledge of human behavior in a way, which promotes collaboration among officers and other helping organizations (Buzawa et al. 2012).
The findings of the Minneapolis, Philadelphia and the Bard studies concur on one key point: an arrest does not have any deterrent effect. The three studies command a special spot in boosting our understanding of alternate police actions to domestic violence calls. They changed the nature of criminology and showcased how good research could contribute to the practices and policies of the police. Overall, these studies led to the adoption of higher methodological standards in criminal research.
References
Buzawa, E. S., & Buzawa, C. G. (2003). Domestic violence: The criminal justice response . Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.
Buzawa, E. S., Buzawa, C. G., Stark, E., & Buzawa, E. S. (2012). Responding to domestic violence: The integration of criminal justice and human services . Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.
Chapter 11. "Police Response to Intimate Partner Violence"
Gosselin, D. K. (2014). Heavy hands: An Introduction to the crimes of intimate and family violence. New York, NY: Pearson
