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The Impact of Research on Legal Policy: The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Lawrence W. Sherman  and
Ellen G. Cohn
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Abstract

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Experimental research has recently shown a powerful impact on legal policy. An experiment demonstrating a deterrent effect of arrest on domestic violence has shaped public policy. Stimulated by efforts to publicize the results of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment (Sherman and Berk, 1984a), police departments were persuaded to adopt an arrest policy for misdemeanor domestic violence. Over one-third of respondents from U.S. police departments in 117 cities said their policy had been influenced by the experiment, although respondents from some departments that adopted an arrest policy did not recognize the experiment or its results. Lempert (1987, 1984), citing medical research as precedent, suggests that this impact is premature and inappropriate until replications are completed. However, we find no indication that medical research employs a standard of delaying adoption of research results prior to replication. Our analysis suggests that publicity can encourage replication of legal research at other sites and thus improve the knowledge base for policy recommendations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , 1989 , pp. 117 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

This article was supported in part by grant 86IJCXK043 to the Crime Control Institute from the National Institute of Justice. Opinions expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors, and do not reflect the official position of the National Institute of Justice. We wish to thank Charles Wellford, Edwin E. Hamilton, Albert J. Reiss, Jr., Patrick R. Gartin, and the staff of the Crime Control Institute. Joel Garner provided valuable comments on an earlier draft, which was presented to the Australian Institute of Criminology's National Conference on Domestic Violence, Canberra, November 1985. We also wish to thank Shari Diamond, Richard Lempert, and an anonymous peer reviewer for their suggestions on the revised draft.

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