Violence Against Women

Mandatory Arrest Laws Reduce Domestic Violence

by Christopher D. Maxwell, Joel H. Garner, and Jeffrey A. Fagan

About the authors: Christopher D. Maxwell is an assistant professor at Michigan State University. Joel H. Garner is a researcher for the Joint Center for Justice Studies. Jeffrey A. Fagan is the director of the Center for Violence Research and Prevention at Columbia University and a visiting professor at Columbia University Law School.

After nearly 20 years of research designed to test the effects of arrest on intimate partner violence, questions persist on whether arrest is more effective at reducing subsequent intimate partner violence than such informal, therapeutic methods as on-scene counseling or temporary separation. The most important research efforts addressing this question were six experiments known collectively as the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ’s) Spouse Assault Replication Program (SARP). These field experiments, carried out between 1981 and 1991 by six police departments and research teams, were designed to.....

Violence Against Women article

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