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Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force On Violence And The Family
Many who want to help stop violence in homes do not want to involve families in the criminal justice system, but making an arrest is the action that is most likely to get protection and help for victims as well as interventions to control perpetrators' behaviors. Expectations about how law enforcement agencies should deal with family violence have changed in recent decades. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, specific programs were implemented that focused on conflict resolution at the scene and follow-up with social service referrals. Useful in some cases, these methods often were not helpful when a woman was being battered by her partner. In the 1980s, following the recommendations of the Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence, a change of emphasis occurred, switching from mediation to arrest and prosecution of family violence cases. Thus law enforcement officers became the gatekeepers for this new criminalization of family violence, and now most people enter the system when an arrest is made.
Many law enforcement officers responding to a family violence call find it frustrating because even when they make an arrest, the abuse may still continue. But if the officer does not make the arrest, women and children remain unprotected, and few perpetrators have a chance for any kind of intervention or treatment. Although it is possible to obtain a civil restraining order in domestic violence or elder abuse cases, or to obtain juvenile court intervention in child abuse cases, treatment usually cannot be mandated by court order in the same way that it can be ordered as a condition of probation in criminal cases.
Most families only want the violence to stop; they do not want subsequent involvement with a system they perceive as intrusive, unhelpful, and punitive. Yet if arrests are not made and treatment is not ordered, the abuser's behavior has few external controls and is likely to continue.
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