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Cops on Call: Summoning the Police to the Scene of Spousal Violence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Richard A. Berk ,
Sarah Fenstermaker Berk ,
Phyllis J. Newton  and
Donileen R. Loseke
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Abstract

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In this paper, we examine factors that affect whether the police are summoned to incidents of spousal violence. The actions of bystanders are distinguished from the actions of victims, and we find that victims and bystanders are moved by somewhat different influences. We also find that the immediate features of the situation dominate the decision to call the police and that many legitimate concerns are salient (e.g., whether there are injuries). In addition, however, some extralegal influences are important so that different offenders engaged in the same crime do not necessarily face the same risks of apprehension. For example, other things equal, bystanders are less likely to call the police if the offender and victim are living together.

Type
Research Note
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , 1984 , pp. 479 - 498
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

*

The research reported in this paper is part of a larger study of spouse abuse funded by the NIMH Center for Studies in Violent and Criminal Behavior (grant No. RO1 MH34616-03). We are indebted to Elizabeth Kirton and Martha Fredrick for conducting the interviews and to Gayle Gubman and Jannalee Smithey for assistance in data processing.

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