Intimate Partner and Domestic Violence Mandatory Arrest Policies in the United States: A Statutory Analysis

• In Event: Intimate Partner Violence Prevention and Victim Services

Abstract

Historically, domestic violence (DV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) have been viewed as private matters to be solved behind closed doors, leading law enforcement officers (LEO) to have limited involvement with incidents of DV or IPV. Since the 1970s, the United States has seen a shift in LEO response to IPV or DV through “mediate and separate” and mandatory arrest policies (Gardner, 1997; Sampson et al., 2007). Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) have mandatory or preferred arrest statutes. We analyze the similarities and differences between the statutes and focus on regional differences.

Authors

• Mazarine Higgins, Washington State University

• Mary Kate Dhondt, Washington State University