Negotiating Domestic Violence

Police, Criminal Justice, and Victims

Carolyn Hoyle

Clarendon Studies in Criminology

This book examines many of the questions which are often asked about this subject, including how women, as victims of domestic violence are treated by the system, and why they so often request assistance from the police and then withdraw their complaint
The book looks in detail at the police response to domestic violence and the subsequent handling of cases by the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as at the position of the victim. The result is a very different and exceptionally balanced picture of the situation
The author has compiled an unusually large amount of empirical information from many varied sources including interviews with victims, the police and offenders

Negotiating Domestic Violence

Police, Criminal Justice, and Victims

Carolyn Hoyle

Clarendon Studies in Criminology

Description

This book examines the factors which shape the criminal justice response to domestic violence in the light of policy changes at the beginning of the 1990s which aimed to increase arrest rates. In particular, the book discusses the needs and expectations of victims and examines how their choices impact on decisions made by police and prosecutors. Many books on the criminal justice response to domestic violence start from the premise that withdrawal of complaints by victims and the subsequent discontinuance of cases, represents some kind of failure on the part of the agencies involved and that victims would benefit from greater determination by police to prosecute offenders wherever possible. Implicit in this approach is the assumption that the criminal justice system as it presently operates is capable of responding effectively to the needs of victims of domestic violence. This book throws doubt on the validity of these assumptions.

Negotiating Domestic Violence

Police, Criminal Justice, and Victims

Carolyn Hoyle

Clarendon Studies in Criminology

1:Legal Rules, Policies and Police Practices
2:Conceptual and Methodological Issues
3:The Control Room: the first stage in the decision-making process
4:The Cultural and Structural Determinants of Police Decision-Making
5:The Situational Determinants of Police Decision-Making
6:Understanding Prosecution Decisions
7:In the Victim's Interest?
8:Interrogating the Role of the Victim
Bibliography
Index