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Trickle-Up Report Writing: The Impact of a Proarrest Policy for Domestic Disturbances

NCJ Number
161066
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 525-542
Author(s)
L Lanza-Kaduce; R G Greenleaf; M Donahue
Date Published
1995
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study used police reports to examine the impact of a proarrest policy change for domestic disturbances.
Abstract
The study was conducted in a small traditional city in the Southeast. On May 27, 1987, the police department announced a new arrest policy for domestic disturbances. The department's new policy made it clear that the traditional "in-presence" requirement was not necessary to effect misdemeanor arrests in domestic disturbances in the city. Police records contained 326 domestic disturbance reports from January 1, 1987, through May 26, 1987 (before the presumptive arrest policy went into effect). The researchers sampled each of these reports, using a random start. Of the 163 reports collected, 57 dealt with problems of child abuse/neglect/abandonment. These were omitted because the official reaction to child abuse/neglect/abandonment is likely to be different from the reaction to disturbances that involve no child victim in need of protective services. A total of 150 of the 253 cases involved relatives or ex-spouses. The study found no evidence that the police in this study changed their arrest behavior due to the new presumptive arrest policy for domestic disturbances. Reporting behavior, however, changed with the implementation of the proarrest policy. The results are consistent with a "trickle-up" effect; less serious cases were written up in reports. A larger proportion of incident reports after implementation of the policy dealt with cases that involved white suspects, misdemeanor assaults, no weapons, and no visible injuries. Factors with legal implications were more often related to police report writing than were social categories. 4 tables and 62 references