Mandatory Arrest: A Law Enforcement Nightmare
July 13, 2005
There is nothing as deceptive as an obvious fact. -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A False Premise
The indifference of law enforcement is the reason given for mandatory arrest policies. That is a false premise. Allegations and data that suggest officers refuse to arrest perpetrators ignore the facts. Often statute law denied officers the right of arrest and often offenders are absent when officers arrive. In the vast majority of minor assaults, in general or domestic violence cases in particular, officers would listen to the desires of those who had been assaulted.
Because of contemporary mandatory arrest, minor “family conflict” must be treated the same as violent “battering behavior.” In approximately half the states, arrest is mandated regardless of how minor the assault, ignoring the desire of families and despite the fact that the incident is an isolated act of minor family conflict.
Battering
Most researchers agree that a “batterer” is a family member or intimate partner who withpremeditation and malice aforethoughtrepeatedly uses coercion, force or violent physical assaults to manipulate and control the behavior of another family member or intimate partner. Research documents that “batterers” are dangerous people and they deserve to be arrested.
Family Conflict
Family conflict most often occurs without premeditation or malice aforethought and involves the use of threats and/or minor physical assault in a specific or isolated disagreement. This behavior is often the result of perceived misbehavior, financial matters, jealously, anger or personality disorders.
The National Violence Against Women Survey document that more than half of all physical assaults by intimates are relatively minor and consist of pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping and hitting and that 1.3% of women and 0.9% of men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually.
A June 2005 Department of Justice (DOJ) report, Family Violence Statistics, documents that family violence accounts for only 11% of all reported and unreported violence and the majority of family violence is simple assault. Less than one half of one percent of family violence is fatal.
Some of the millions of family members who engage in minor family conflict may require law enforcement intervention. However, studies document that many families have discovered that mandatory arrest that ignores the context of the incident, can have unintended detrimental effects on families.
Ideology Trumps Science
On July 3, 2005 Senator Joe Biden on Face the Nation said, “The last thing we need in this country is ideological purity.” Biden ignores the fact that the only foundation for mandatory arrest is gender feminist “ideological purity.” Mandatory arrest has little to no support from criminologist nor do empirical studies document its efficacy.
Men battering women is what most people think of when they hear the term “domestic violence.” However, data document “family conflict” occurs far more often than “battering.” Michael P. Johnson, a respected feminist researcher, believes that it is scientifically and ethically immoral not to distinguish between minor and serious abusive behavior.
Studies document that the majority of scholars and researchers agree with Johnson. It is apparent that our public policy makers and many domestic violence advocates are either ignorant of these studies or have, for ideological reasons, decided to disagree.
Mandatory Arrest
Mandatory arrest demands that officers ignore the diverse needs and desires of families and it removes the option of choice. That power is placed into the absentee hands of “a state that claims it knows best.” Arrest is paramount, logic and reason are secondary.
The National Research Council study, Advancing the Federal Research Agenda on Violence Against Women, notes that there are dangers in not distinguishing between an act of violence, abuse or battering.
The DOJ sponsored study, Police Intervention and the Repeat of Domestic Assault, document that sometimes police intervention is necessary, however, the effect of arrest is too small to have policy significance.
The DOJ report Forgoing Criminal Justice Assistance: The Non-Reporting of New Incidents of Abuse in a Court Sample of Domestic Violence Victims document that for some families, mandatory arrest and one-size-fits-all criminal justice policies can be more harmful than helpful.
The DOJ study, The Effects of Arrest on Intimate Partner Violence: New Evidence From the Spouse Assault Replication Program document that officers and families should have the choice concerning arrest because the majority of offenders discontinue their aggressive behavior without an arrest.
It concludes that requiring arrest for everyone may reduce the resources of communities when they respond to chronic violent offenders and victims most at risk. The authors also believe that research need to assess the benefits and costs of mandatory arrest before implementing mandatory arrest policies.
Some mandatory arrests can become a nightmare for families and law enforcement agencies. DOJ studies document that it is time that our public policy makers re-think this one-size-fits-all, ideologically based intervention.
