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“An Inside View of Police Officers’ Experience with Domestic Violence” is an article authored by Horwitz et al., published in 2011. The authors are members of the Domestic Violence Intervention Project, a research team of the University of Rochester Medical Center. The article intends to support the claim that Domestic Violence (DV) policies such as the mandatory prosecution limits the use of call for service among victims when DV occurs (Horwitz et al., 2011). The article also examines the procedural limitations police face due to the rigid protocols of operation, such as considering the victims’ requests before arresting the perpetrator.
Research Questions
Research questions focused on ways to reduce the victims’ unwillingness to report DV. The research highlighted the initial policies of DV and their impact on police mandate to arrest when dealing with DV culprits (Horwitz et al., 2011). Further, the efficacy of DV policies in reducing recidivism are examined to find out whether these policies are counteractive or productive in enhancing security and curbing its reoccurrence.
Methodology
The research was conducted in New York City, where DV is undefined as a crime. The research method used was a self-administered demographic survey and individual interview in a focus group of 22 police officers, whereby 10 of the participants were women and 12 men (Horwitz et al., 2011). Participation was voluntary, meaning that all the involved parties had consented to engage in the activity. The officers involved ranged from leadership to frontline responders committed to fighting against DV. Data gathered from the individual interviews were audiotaped, and all the results were analyzed using the comparative method of analysis (Horwitz et al., 2011). The survey results were stored using the ATLAS.ti software that codes data thematically to ensure no unauthorized access is granted.
Key Findings
Results from the analysis were structured in a schema to show the barriers limiting the police in their scope of practice which contributes to their frustrations. Several limitations were identified as key factors limiting police protection of the victim from the perpetrator (Horwitz et al., 2011). Low prosecution rate among DV offenders was a major challenge demoralizing police morale in following up DV cases. Also, the never-ending court case decreased the rate at which victims used the call-in service to report DV crimes. The reason is that most of the perpetrators were not incriminated, which increased recidivism (Horwitz et al., 2011). Most victims considered reporting this crime as a waste of time because perpetrators would never be incarcerated in most cases.
Concepts Learned
Domestic violence is a collective responsibility that relies on sound judgment for justice to prevail. A collaborative engagement whereby everyone condemns this crime is the only available option of winning against this offense. Unfortunately, the tendency in its occurrence gains momentum in the victim’s silence. Therefore, creating awareness that domestic violence in any form is a crime could encourage victims to speak up when they face DV. This effort may awaken the need for a revolution in the justice processes of DV cases. The second concept learned is from the authors since they incorporated knowledgeable participants in DV, which improved the results’ efficacy (Horwitz et al., 2011). This strategy has given me a new perspective towards human involvement in scientific research. I have learned that the research type determines the participants involved.
Reference
Horwitz, S. H., Mitchell, D., LaRussa-Trott, M., Santiago, L., Pearson, J., Skiff, D. M., & Cerulli, C. (2011). An inside view of police officers’ experience with domestic violence. Journal of Family Violence, 26(8), 617–625. Web.
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