Judicial Decision-Making and Firearm Removal on Civil Domestic Violence Protection Orders

• In Event: Examination of Contextual Factors in Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Firearms pose a uniquely lethal threat to female victims of domestic violence, with the odds that a female will be killed by a male offender being 5.4 times higher if the offender has access to a firearm (Campbell et al., 2003). Civil domestic violence protection orders offer victims a means of protection from the threat of bodily harm, and contain state provisions allowing for the removal of firearms from an abuser’s possession.

Using data obtained from 577 protection order filings in seven municipal courts in Arizona in 2015, this paper will use a multivariate logistic regression to analyze (1) the percentage of granted protection orders in which a petitioner requested firearm removal, (2) the rate at which judges grant firearm removal, (3) and factors influencing whether a judge invokes or denies one’s request for firearm removal. The results are discussed within the context of judicial discretion and firearm legislation.

Authors

• Mikaela Ann Wallin, Michigan State University

• Alesha Durfee, Arizona State University