Comparison of victims' reports and court records of intimate partner violence perpetrators' criminal case outcomes. J Interpers Violence 2013 Sep;28(14):2966-77
Date
05/28/2013Pubmed ID
23708777DOI
10.1177/0886260513488693Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84882937884 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV) victims often report feeling confused and uninformed about court proceedings, including even about the final disposition of the case against their partner. This is problematic because victims' decisions in responding to subsequent abuse may be significantly influenced by their beliefs about the outcomes of prior court experiences. Also, researchers often rely on victim report of court case outcomes; discrepancies between women's reports and official records may account for some of the conflicting findings in the empirical literature. In the current study, we compared the reports of case outcome given by 81 women recruited immediately after the final hearing of an IPV-related criminal case against their perpetrator with court records of case outcome. Findings revealed a fair level of agreement between women's reports and court files that was significantly different from the level of agreement expected by chance, but far from perfect. Level of agreement increased substantially when cases involving suspended sentences were removed. In reviewing these findings, we discuss the extent to which results can or cannot be interpreted as reflecting the accuracy of women's knowledge and review their implications for IPV researchers and court systems.
Author List
Bell ME, Larsen SE, Goodman LA, Dutton MAAuthor
Sadie E. Larsen PhD Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAdult
Aged
Battered Women
Female
Humans
Middle Aged
Sexual Partners
Violence
Young Adult