The probability of wife assault being detected by the criminal justice system is about 6.5 percent. Given that it is detected, the probability of arrest is about 21.2 percent. Subsequent conditional probabilities for conviction and punishment generate and aggregate probability that, given that an event of wife assault occurs, the perpetrator has a 0.38 percent chance of being punished by the courts. The policy implications of this review are that the greatest impact on wife assault recidivism reduction would be generated by police arrest rates regardless of court outcome. It is concluded that too little is known of the subjective states of wife assaulters to ascertain whether deterrence or some other mechanism accounts for the decreased recidvism reported after arrest. 4 tables and 60 references. (Author abstract modified)