This study examined the impacts of jurisdictions’ domestic violence policies on violent behavior of family members and intimate partners, on the likelihood that the police discovered an incident, and on the likelihood that the police made an arrest. The research combined two datasets. Part 1 contains information on police, prosecution policies, and local victim services. Informants within the local agencies of the 50 largest cities in the United States were contacted and asked to complete a survey inventorying policies and activities by type and year of implementation. Data from completed surveys covered 48 cities from 1976 to 1996. Part 2 contains data on domestic violence laws. Data on state statutes from 1976 to 1997 that related to protection orders were collected by a legal expert for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The goal of this research was to understand the influence of jurisdictions’ domestic violence policy on violent behavior of family member and intimate partner. There were also two secondary objectives: (1) to test the relationship between policy and the likelihood that the police discover an incident, and (2) to examine how policy relates to the likelihood that the police make an arrest.

This study combined data from two parts. For both parts, data were retrieved from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Reports, from the Bureau of Census, or were collected by the researchers. Part 1 contains data on local policy. There were 1,050 cases, one for each jurisdiction for each year. Informants within the local agencies of the 50 largest cities in the United States were contacted and asked to complete a survey inventorying policies and activities by type and year of implementation. The crux of this data collection strategy was to minimize measurement error by identifying the person(s) best positioned in the agency to answer the questions, and by phrasing the questions in standardized format, typically calling for a simple “yes/no” response. Part 2 contains data on state statutes. A total of 1,122 cases, one for each state by year, were included. Longitudinal data on state statutes related to protection orders were collected by a legal expert for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

For Part 1 (Local Policy Data), variables on local resources include the number of hotlines in a city, a police index of the characteristics of local police department, a prosecution index of prosecution characteristics that provide support to victims of domestic violence, and the number of Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits (AFDC) adjusted to 1983 dollars. For Part 2 (State Statutes Data), policy variables include five statute provisions and a discretion index which describes the available types of sanction.

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AVAILABLE. This study is freely available to the general public.