Unintended Side Effects of Pro-Arrest Policies and Their Race and Class Implications for Battered Women: A Cautionary Note

Increasingly, arrest appears to be the disposition of choice for combatting violence between intimate partners. However, the ramifications of such policies may differentially impact on female victims, particularly those battered women with fewer resources and alternatives who have traditionally placed a greater reliance on police intervention. The residual effects of pro-arrest policies may operate subtly, becoming indiscernible through quantitative analyses of follow-up data and emerging only when qualitative methodologies are employed in conjunction with quantitative methodologies. Although pro-arrest policies are one way to attack the problem of woman battering, the policies become problematic if they disproportionately affect women from minority and lower socio-economic groups, facilitating negative consequences, including possible reoccurrences of violence. This paper raises some of the pertinent issues involved when research fails to capture or address the potential implications of pro-arrest strategies once implemented, and suggests ways to explore the extent and ramifications of these effects.