Three police responses to simple assault were randomly assigned to legally eligible suspects: an arrest; 'advice' (including, in some cases, informal mediation); and an order to the suspect to leave for 8 hours. The behavior of the suspect was tracked for 6 months after the police intervention, with both official data and victim reports. The official recidivism measures show that the arrested subjects manifested significantly less subsequent violence than those who were ordered to leave. The victim report data show that the arrested subjects manifested significantly less subsequent violence than those who were advised. The findings falsify a deviance amplification model of labeling theory beyond initial labeling, and fail to falsify the specific deterrence prediction for a group of offenders with a high percentage of prior histories of both domestic violence and other kinds of crime. (Author abstract)