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Fair Treatment or Preferred Outcome? The Impact of Police Behavior on Victim Reports of Domestic Violence Incidents
Law & Society Review (2003)
  • Laura J. Hickman, Portland State University
  • Sally S. Simpson
Abstract
This research is an exploratory test of two hypotheses emerging from debates about how police behavior may influence domestic violence victim reporting. From a procedural justice perspective, victims should be more apt to report victimization when previous encounters with police are viewed as procedurally fair. From a distributive justice perspective, denying victims their preferred outcome may discourage future police utilization. We find that satisfaction with police is related to both distributive and procedural justice but that re-utilization of police is conditioned by preferred outcome. Specifically, if the offender was arrested in accordance with victim preference, the victim is significantly more apt to utilize police in the future.
Keywords
  • Family violence,
  • Administration of justice,
  • Discrimination in law enforcement,
  • Victims of crimes -- Behavior -- Analysis
Publication Date
September, 2003
Citation Information
Laura J. Hickman and Sally S. Simpson. "Fair Treatment or Preferred Outcome? The Impact of Police Behavior on Victim Reports of Domestic Violence Incidents" Law & Society Review Vol. 37 Iss. 3 (2003)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/laura_hickman/25/