System-initiated warrants for suspects of misdemeanor domestic assault: A pilot study

Abstract

Instances in which the police responded to misdemeanor domestic assaults in which offenders were absent when the police arrived, were randomly assigned to receive or not to receive a warrant for their arrest. Comparisons of the two experimental groups using both victims' reports and official measures of recidivism found that the warrant group had lower rates of recidivism and took longer to fail than did the no-warrant group. I am most grateful to my colleagues Delbert S. Elliott and David Huizinga for their comments and suggestions for this paper. The support of Dr. Joel Garner, Professor Albert Reiss Jr., Professor Kinley Larntz, Professor Robert Boursch, Chief Allen Andrews and Ms. Lucy Friedman was instrumental to the successful completion of the Omaha experiments from which this paper was taken. Any shortcomings, however, remain the responsibility of the author. This paper was supported by Grant 85-IJ-CX-K435 from the National Institute of Justice and Grant 1R01MH45082-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Points of view or opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Department of Health and Human Services. I am most grateful to my colleagues Delbert S. Elliott and David Huizinga for their comments and suggestions for this paper. The support of Dr. Joel Garner, Professor Albert Reiss Jr., Professor Kinley Larntz, Professor Robert Boursch, Chief Allen Andrews and Ms. Lucy Friedman was instrumental to the successful completion of the Omaha experiments from which this paper was taken. Any shortcomings, however, remain the responsibility of the author. This paper was supported by Grant 85-IJ-CX-K435 from the National Institute of Justice and Grant 1R01MH45082-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Points of view or opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Department of Health and Human Services. Notes I am most grateful to my colleagues Delbert S. Elliott and David Huizinga for their comments and suggestions for this paper. The support of Dr. Joel Garner, Professor Albert Reiss Jr., Professor Kinley Larntz, Professor Robert Boursch, Chief Allen Andrews and Ms. Lucy Friedman was instrumental to the successful completion of the Omaha experiments from which this paper was taken. Any shortcomings, however, remain the responsibility of the author. This paper was supported by Grant 85-IJ-CX-K435 from the National Institute of Justice and Grant 1R01MH45082-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Points of view or opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Department of Health and Human Services.