Janell D. Schmidt and Lawrence W. Sherman

During the early 1980s, Janell D. Schmidt and Lawrence

W. Sherman studied the effect of mandatory arrest on domestic abusers in Minneapolis and concluded that arrest was a deterrent. However, in the following viewpoint, Schmidt and Sherman discuss the results of a duplicate study they performed in 1992 in six cities. They argue that although mandatory arrest does deter violence in some cases, it actually increases the risk of further episodes of violence in others. Since officials cannot know how a mandatory arrest policy will affect the residents of their cities, Schmidt and Sherman recommend that mandatory arrest laws be repealed and that police be allowed to arrest abusers at their discretion. Schmidt is the former director of the Crime Control Institute office in Milwaukee. Sherman is the chair of the...