Law Enforcement Officers' Attitudes about the Appropriate Responses to Woman Battering *

Abstract

The debate over the appropriate police response to cases of battered women has intensified over the last two decades, with the majority of the research focusing on the deterrent aspect of pro-arrest policies. By contrast, this study is an examination of 324 law enforcement officers' reported attitudes and preferences regarding arrest and mediation and attitudes about battering victims and offenders. Overall, the findings include far more support for mediation than arrest, and a general tendency of officers to view women claiming to have been battered as non-credible and unworthy of police time. The variable that most strikingly differentiates officers is departmental affiliation, followed by race and sex. These findings affirm the plight of battered women when appealing to the police for assistance, as well as the importance of the departmental orientation and subculture in terms of predicting police response.