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Changing the Domestic Violence Policies of Urban Police Departments: Impact of the Minneapolis Experiment

NCJ Number
113362
Journal
Response Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: (1987) Pages: 22-24
Author(s)
E G Cohn
Date Published
1987
Length
3 pages
Annotation
A June 1986 telephone survey of 176 urban police departments serving cities with populations of 100,000 or more found that 46 percent of the departments preferred to make arrests in cases of minor domestic assault, largely due to the effectiveness of this policy in the Minneapolis experiment.
Abstract
There have been substantial increases in arrests of abusers in domestic violence cases since 1984. Between 1984 and 1986, a number of events might have encouraged more police departments to adopt this policy. These include the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment, which found that arrest was more effective than other typical alternatives in reducing recidivism in domestic violence over a 6-month followup; the report of the Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence; changes in a number of State laws; several major media events; and a series of widely publicized lawsuits. Thirty percent of the departments surveyed in 1986 reported changing their policy as a result of the Minneapolis experiment, suggesting that research does have an impact on police policies. 8 references.