Volume 9, Number 2, 2007
Special Issue: Research Using NIBRS Data

Policy, Place and Perpetrators: Using NIBRS to Explain Arrest Practices in Intimate Partner Violence

April Pattavina, Eve Buzawa, David Hirschel, Donald Faggiani

Abstract

This study presents the results of a multilevel analysis of arrest outcomes in intimate partner incidents reported to the police. Using NIBRS data for 2000 in combination with data from other sources, we investigate how arrest policies, levels of urbanization, incident circumstances and offender characteristics influence arrest outcomes in domestic violence incidents. Our results indicate that arrest outcomes for intimate partner violence are influenced not only by mandatory arrest legislation, but also by level of urbanization and incident circumstances. The findings demonstrate the need for continued research which considers agency-level as well as offender and incident-level characteristics in accounting for arrest outcomes.