Specific Deterrent Effects of Arrest for Domestic Assault.
Specific Deterrent Effects of Arrest for Domestic Assault.
Purpose and general rationale
The primary purpose of the research is to find out the impact of punishment on individuals. The researcher reviews various articles that predict and provide an argument on how punishment deters punished individuals. According to the researcher, the studies conducted go through methodological and conceptual challenges caused by weak designs during the study. The research focuses on the various speculations on how punishment influences the behavior of individuals (Bouffard, Niebuhr, and Exum, 2017). According to various pieces of literature, punishment makes individuals commit crimes due to three main reasons. One, due to the interaction structure, secondary deviance, and foreclosed legal opportunities. Punishment affects different individuals differently based on the type of crime. To understand the theory of deterrence, crime-specific studies are required. Understanding deterrence has been a challenge, especially the impact of punishment on various types of crimes. For instance, domestic violence, armed robbery, murder, and white-collar crimes.
The fit and specific Rationale
Policing domestic assaults is a situation-specific study that focuses on how specific deterrent effect arrests for domestic assault. The Minneapolis police department conducted the study through three main strategies on the incidents of misdemeanor domestic assault (sherman, and berk, 1984). Arresting individuals involved in domestic violence has been an issue today. Mostly, police officers prefer to conserve arrest by the victim of the violence, mediate, and negotiate the involved parties. The assailants of domestic violence end up not arrested and convicted. According to studies reviewed, most arrests conducted among married couples end up releasing one party. Violent felonies and violent misdemeanors among married people are the most reported crimes, but few arrests were conducted.
Clinical psychologists have influenced how law enforcement departments prefer separation techniques among the disagreeing parties instead of holding arrests. Police officers are encouraged to mediate the conflicting parties instead of arresting as one of the significant approach used in family dispute intervention. Counseling the conflicting parties aims at reducing criminality because punishment increases the rate of crimes (Bouffard, Niebuhr, and Exum, 2017). The emergence and development of feminists groups have criticized police practices towards domestic violence. Feminists argue that police officers do not criminalize domestic violence instead focus on the use of the social intervention. Police officers are always in a dilemma on which method to use in confronting domestic assault suspects. Police officers use three main options: separation, use of mediation, and protection of victims, and use of laws to stop crimes.
Participants
The Minneapolis police department researched domestic assault suspects in the state (sherman, and berk, 1984). Thirty-four police officers engaged in the research project and expected to produce at least three hundred cases per year. During the experiment, eighteen police officers were added to replace and Help the rest.
Context
A randomized experiment was conducted through assigning arrests, separation of conflicting parties, and mediation. The experiment was conducted purposely to identify the seriousness, frequency, and impact of domestic violence’s three approaches. Also, the experiment was conducted in the presence of the victim and the suspect. The Minnesota police department researched the state’s laws concerning arrest and seizure (sherman, and berk, 1984). For instance, the police officer should have probable cause to conduct the investigation. The design emphasized substantial evidence showing the impact of the assault, such as severe injury and life-threatening messages or insults. Every police action was recorded in different report forms with distinct color codes. The report form consisted of instructions to be followed before taking any action.
Additionally, the random experiment was supervised and monitored by a research staff observer. The staff observer was supposed to collect brief reports from every police officer after conducting the assignment. However, the report forms were arranged in a sequence where the primary assignment has to match with the treatment. Nevertheless, face-to-face interviews were conducted, and follow-up was made for accuracy (sherman, and berk, 1984). The reports from the follow-up activity were recorded as a criminal justice report with the suspect’s details. The experiment followed several exemption rules that dictated the final report, such as attempted domestic violence, persistent demand for arrest from the victim, and if the conflicting parties got injuries.
Steps in Sequence
The research was first initiated by identifying the problem or the topic of discussion. The researchers identified a problem with how punishment affect suspects. The police officers identified the low number of arrests conducted. Also, the critic from the feminist group triggered the study. Various articles have been used to support the research, such as a juvenile study conducted by Lincoln black, and Reiss study concerning police response to victims of crime and violent misdemeanors among married couples (sherman, and berk, 1984). The terms used in the research area related to the law and the criminal justice system. For instance, crime, deterrence, misdemeanor, suspect, and others.
The specific population in the research include suspects of domestic violence and the impact of punishment. According to most studies, domestic violence victims require social intervention, such as mediation or separation, instead of arrest. Police officers fear and find it inappropriate to conduct arrest on domestic violence victims (Bouffard, Niebuhr, and Exum, 2017). The data is collected from Minnesota State by police officers from the state’s police department. The research activity uses interviews and randomized experiments as the primary research design (Bouffard, Niebuhr, and Exum, 2017). The research is designed to take six months, including a follow-up for bot research designs. Data is collected and stored in the form of a report document submitted to the research staff observer.
Data Analysis
The issue of domestic violence suspects’ treatment led to research conducted by police officers from Minnesota. Thirty-nine researchers in the researchers used six months, beginning with the first three data for conducting meetings. The researchers and the study faced various challenges during the research. For example, most police officers were absent in most meetings and failed to present case reports. The designed experimental design focused on the research’s final results, although not all police officers followed the requirements (sherman, and berk, 1984).
The police officers faced issues, such as understanding and interpreting the experiment’s application, forgetfulness, and facing complex situations. The police officers, however, failed to meet several design requirements intentionally and accidentally. Most sections of the design were not accomplished according to the plan, including the researcher staff observer’s role. The observer could not supervise the police officers during the randomized experiment because police officers switched the assignments. Additionally, the reports for follow-up activity were less than the actual research, regardless of the challenges faced in the implementation of the research design (sherman, and berk, 1984). The research was successful, providing more than a hundred case samples with no cases of biases.
Results
According to the results, only three arrested suspects out of one hundred and thirty-six received punishment in sanction or fine. Eighty-six percent of arrested suspects were released within a week, fourteen percent after one week, and forty-three percent within a day (sherman, and berk, 1984). In a month, the rate of incapacitation of violent domestic suspects was low. After police intervention, very few repeated cases of violence were reported, and within a day, forty suspects got released; hence conducting arrest reduces domestic violence cases. Notably, evidence concerning renewed quarrels or reverse violence after the suspect is released from custody (Engel,et,al.,2019). The results provided from the long and challenging research project presented domestic violence patterns.
The characteristic of results was surprising were cases concerning unmarried couples were more compared to married couples. The unmarried couples involved in domestic violence had low education, individuals from minority communities and mixed-races, and a history of violence and police officers encounter. Also, the unemployment case was a top issue supported by eight percent of suspects. Most victims of domestic violence are unemployed and highly involved in lawbreaking. The police records and interviews with the victims provided the final results. The police recorded information concerning the six-month follow-up that the suspects were arrested or reported of violence between the follow-up showing the suspect had engaged in domestic violence multiple times before, threatening the victim, physical/sexual assault, and damage properties. Logit formulation, linear probability, and proportional hazards result in an analytical approach used to evaluate result’s validity.
Conclusion
According to the results, the research was first initiated by identifying the topic of discussion. The researchers identified a problem on how punishment affect suspects of domestic violence. The critic from the feminist group triggered the study. Various articles have been used to support the research; for instance, the main factor affecting arrest is that the victims were hesitant to call or report the case to the police (Bouffard, Niebuhr, and Exum, 2017). Underreporting during the interview affected the outcome of the research. According to the research, conducting arrest was not impactful because it did not reduce the crime rate or increase criminality. Most of the suspects had already been arrested before or had an encounter with police officers for violence.
The victims had reported or complained about assault more than one time. However, the arrest did not reduce domestic violence because, according to the cases, the criminal act was recurrent regardless of sanction. However, Criminal justice sanctions are appropriate for domestic violence and should be embraced. Regardless of the court’s treatment towards domestic violence cases conducting arrest is impactful (Engel,et,al.,2019). Police officers should consider arrest because an arrest is useful compared to other approaches, although arrest should not be considered for every offender, and in every situation. Some suspects change after punishment, especially those reported to be arrested once during the research compared to those arrested for more violent cases during follow-up.
Cautions
Maintaining privacy and confidentiality is one of the cautions that should be adhered to during the research process. Domestic violence has been considered more of a personal family matter that requires to be handled with sensitivity. Also, the researchers should avoid biases and seek to produce accurate work. For instance, researching different communities. Additionally, the interviewer should not ask a sensitive question that would affect the victim or the suspect emotional state. The interviewer should ask closed-ended questions to avoid the invasion of privacy (sherman, and berk, 1984). According to result analysis, the experiment’s results record different levels of uncertainty.
During the research, police officer’s irregularities contributed to uncertainties. For instance, not all cases were reported because mending into family affairs to collect data was challenging for most officers. The results recorded many undercounting, not only caused by insufficient cases, but failure to get involved in the experiment. Some arrested assault did not record another case of violence during the follow-up, hence appeared once. The experiment data was more accurate compared to face-to face-interview. Most victims could not provide detailed information about the history of assault.
Discussion
For decades now, punishment has been discouraged in most jurisdictions, especially in various types of crimes. Punishment has been reported to be the leading cause of prison overcrowding and the increase in criminal activities (Bouffard, Niebuhr, and Exum, 2017). Punishing suspects of domestic violence has been an area of discussion by various researchers. The law enforcement department and clinical psychologists prefer social intervention, such as mediation and separation, instead of conducting an arrest.
According to the research, conducting arrest has been impactful, although not to all individual suspects. Mostly suspects under police supervision or under-punishment do not repeat the crime. Since no cases of renewed arguments or reverse violence, an arrest is the significance and should be applied to reduce deterrence. The police department should be cautious when deciding the type of punishment and whether domestic violence should be arrested. Most domestic violence victims end up repeating the crime after arrest and hence require counseling more than arrest.
References
Bouffard, J. A., Niebuhr, N., & Exum, M. L. (2017). Examining specific deterrence effects on DWI among serious offenders. Crime & Delinquency, 63(14), 1923-1945.
Engel, R. S., Worden, R. E., Corsaro, N., McManus, H. D., Reynolds, D., Cochran, H., … & Cherkauskas, J. C. (2019). Placing Arrest in Context. In The Power to Arrest (pp. 11-27). Springer, Cham.
sherman, l., & berk, r. (1984). Specific Deterrent Effects of Arrest for Domestic Assault. American Socialogical Review, 49(2), 261-275. Retrieved from http://file:///C:/Users/Hp/Downloads/specific-deterrent-effects-of-arrest%20(1).pdf
