Mandatory Reporting of Domestic Violence: What Do Abuse Survivors Think and What Variables Influence Those Opinions?

Abstract

For decades, states have passed legislation to mandate reporting of criminal conduct and the abuse of vulnerable persons. Four types of mandatory reporting laws have been enacted, including laws that require reports of injuries associated with crime or due to use of certain weapons, abuse of children, abuse of vulnerable adults, and reporting of domestic violence. While studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of mandatory reporting laws in domestic violence cases, methodological weaknesses in this body of literature make it difficult to make broad statements about whether mandatory reporting laws advance women’s protection or actually place them at additional risk. This study’s sample is based on 388 surveys administered in-person to women who had sought services from one of Kentucky’s 15 regional domestic violence shelters. In addition to querying women regarding their own experience with mandatory reporting laws, the survey explored the factors that influenced women’s views. The study advances research into women’s decisions to access shelters, medical, or mental health services and how they are influenced by advance knowledge that their case would be reported if they disclosed abuse. A new and troubling finding was that almost two in five women reported they would have been less likely to contact a domestic violence shelter if they knew in advance that a mandatory report would be made. Future research on mandatory reporting is needed with an eye toward changing state policies and laws to ensure that women feel free to seek the type of assistance they need for themselves and their children.