U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Severity of Dispositions and Domestic Violence Recidivism

NCJ Number
173565
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 44 Issue: 3 Dated: July 1998 Pages: 388-398
Author(s)
A Thistlethwaite; J Wooldredge; D Gibbs
Date Published
1998
Length
11 pages
Annotation

This article reports on the effects of court dispositions on rearrest for domestic violence.

Abstract

The article is based on a study of adults arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence in Hamilton County (Cincinnati), Ohio. Arrestees were tracked for one year after their sentences, if any, had been served. Qualitatively, more severe sentences (e.g., jail combined with probation versus either probation or jail) corresponded with lower recidivism likelihood. Also, these sentences appeared most effective for persons with greater stakes in conformity (i.e., those less transient in terms of residence and employment and those living in neighborhoods with higher socioeconomic status). While sentence severity may contribute to the prevention of recidivism, the length of probation and the length of jail were not significant predictors of recidivism. The article suggests that a policy of shock incarceration that combines 1 month of jail with 6 months of probation would be effective for significantly reducing recidivism among this population of offenders. Tables, notes, references