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Predictors of Weapon Use in Domestic Violence Incidents Reported to Law Enforcement

NCJ Number
225093
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 23 Issue: 7 Dated: October 2008 Pages: 589-596
Author(s)
Poco Kernsmith; Sarah W. Craun
Date Published
October 2008
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The study investigated the predictors of weapon use during domestic violence incidents that were reported to the police.
Abstract
The results indicate that suspect sex and restraining order status are related to weapon use in violent intimate incidents reported to the police. The finding that male victims have a higher chance that their female perpetrator will use a weapon against them, as compared to female victims with male perpetrators is contrary to what was expected. A possible explanation may be that female perpetrators need to compensate for their generally smaller physical size relative to their male partner, or that the male victims could be more reticent to involve law enforcement than females, but are more likely to call the police when their female perpetrator uses a weapon. The other statically significant finding was that those who had a restraining order against the perpetrator were more likely to be attacked with a weapon as compared to those who did not have a restraining order. This mainly impacted the female victim population as almost 91 percent of those who had a restraining order against the perpetrator were female. The results provide further evidence that restraining orders, while well intentioned cannot always protect a domestic violence victim from a violent partner. Data were collected from 369 randomly selected cases from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Tables, references