scholarly journals Policing a new domestic abuse crime: Effects of force-wide training on arrests for coercive control

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Brennan ◽  
Andy Myhill ◽  
Giulia Tagliaferri ◽  
Jacki Tapley

Objective: Following a pre-registered study design, estimate the effect of police force-wide domestic abuse training on arrests for the new crime of ‘controlling or coercive behaviour’.Methods: Using data on monthly count of arrest for controlling or coercive behaviour in 33 police forces, we used a negative binomial difference-in-difference analysis and capitalised on differences in intervention timing to undertake an event study.Results: Training was associated with a 41% increase in arrest for controlling or coercive behaviour for trained forces compared to untrained forces (IRR 1.413, 95% CI 1.235–1.617). The event study illustrated that the increase in arrests in trained forces was consistent with the timing of the training.Conclusions: Training entire police forces to understand the dynamics of domestic abuse, including the new offence of coercive control, is effective in increasing the rate of arrest for coercive control.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Brennan ◽  
Andy Myhill

Critics of the criminalisation of coercive control warned that the criminal justice system was ill-prepared for a conceptualisation of domestic abuse that relies on victim accounts of fear and manipulation rather than on evidence of violence. Using data obtained through freedom of information requests to police forces and aggregated police records, this paper presents police force-level and nationwide patterns in recorded crimes, police arrests and crime outcomes for this new crime and shows that, nationally, the number of recorded crimes and arrests rose steadily, but there was significant variation in these patterns between police forces. Analysing police outcomes, we demonstrate that coercive control crimes face greater evidential challenges and are far less likely to result in prosecution than domestic abuse crimes in general. We discuss their implications of these trends and findings for the policing and criminalisation of coercive control.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda L Robinson ◽  
Andy Myhill ◽  
Julia Wire

Coercive control is harmful behaviour recently criminalized in England and Wales. The extent to which the work of practitioners is informed by an understanding of coercive control therefore requires investigation. Using data from two mixed methods multi-site studies, this article suggests that practitioners’ recognition of coercive control does not seem to be universally poor or skilled, but rather depends on the characteristics of the situation itself, the organizational context in which practitioners work and the stage at which they are evaluating whether coercive control is present. The absence of a clear understanding of the importance of coercive control when making judgements about victims and perpetrators has serious implications for the efficacy of current approaches to domestic abuse. Purposeful and systematic efforts to support practitioners to recognize and respond effectively to coercive control are required.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2392
Author(s):  
Andrei R. Akhmetzhanov ◽  
Kenji Mizumoto ◽  
Sung-Mok Jung ◽  
Natalie M. Linton ◽  
Ryosuke Omori ◽  
...  

Following the first report of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Sapporo city, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, on 14 February 2020, a surge of cases was observed in Hokkaido during February and March. As of 6 March, 90 cases were diagnosed in Hokkaido. Unfortunately, many infected persons may not have been recognized due to having mild or no symptoms during the initial months of the outbreak. We therefore aimed to predict the actual number of COVID-19 cases in (i) Hokkaido Prefecture and (ii) Sapporo city using data on cases diagnosed outside these areas. Two statistical frameworks involving a balance equation and an extrapolated linear regression model with a negative binomial link were used for deriving both estimates, respectively. The estimated cumulative incidence in Hokkaido as of 27 February was 2,297 cases (95% confidence interval (CI): 382–7091) based on data on travelers outbound from Hokkaido. The cumulative incidence in Sapporo city as of 28 February was estimated at 2233 cases (95% CI: 0–4893) based on the count of confirmed cases within Hokkaido. Both approaches resulted in similar estimates, indicating a higher incidence of infections in Hokkaido than were detected by the surveillance system. This quantification of the gap between detected and estimated cases helped to inform the public health response at the beginning of the pandemic and provided insight into the possible scope of undetected transmission for future assessments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6214
Author(s):  
Bumjoon Bae ◽  
Changju Lee ◽  
Tae-Young Pak ◽  
Sunghoon Lee

Aggregation of spatiotemporal data can encounter potential information loss or distort attributes via individual observation, which would influence modeling results and lead to an erroneous inference, named the ecological fallacy. Therefore, deciding spatial and temporal resolution is a fundamental consideration in a spatiotemporal analysis. The modifiable temporal unit problem (MTUP) occurs when using data that is temporally aggregated. While consideration of the spatial dimension has been increasingly studied, the counterpart, a temporal unit, is rarely considered, particularly in the traffic safety modeling field. The purpose of this research is to identify the MTUP effect in crash-frequency modeling using data with various temporal scales. A sensitivity analysis framework is adopted with four negative binomial regression models and four random effect negative binomial models having yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly temporal units. As the different temporal unit was applied, the result of the model estimation also changed in terms of the mean and significance of the parameter estimates. Increasing temporal correlation due to using the small temporal unit can be handled with the random effect models.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Iain Brennan ◽  
Andy Myhill ◽  
Giulia Tagliaferri ◽  
Jacki Tapley

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052098039
Author(s):  
Valeria Skafida ◽  
Fiona Morrison ◽  
John Devaney

Domestic abuse is a pernicious societal issue that has both short- and long-term consequences for those who are victimized. Research points to motherhood being linked to women’s victimization, with pregnancy being a particular point of risk. Across UK jurisdictions, new legislation aims to extend the criminalization of domestic abuse to include coercive control. Less clear is the relationship between mothers’ victimization of different “types” of abuse and other factors such as age, socioeconomic status, and level of education. The article makes an original contribution to knowledge by addressing these limitations of the existing literature. Using nationally representative data from a Scottish longitudinal survey ( N = 3,633) into children’s development this article investigates the social stratification of mothers’ exposure to different types of abuse, including coercive control, physical abuse, and threats. Overall, 14% of mothers report experiencing any type of domestic abuse since the birth of the study child (age 6), of which 7% experienced physical abuse. Compared to mothers in the highest income households, mothers in the lowest income quintile were far more likely to experience any form of abuse (Logistic Regression, OR = 3.55), more likely to have experienced more types of abuse and to have experienced these more often ( OR = 5.54). Age had a protective effect, with mothers aged 20 or younger at most risk of abuse ( OR = 2.60 compared to mothers aged 40+). Interaction effects between age and income suggested that an intersectional lens may help explain the cumulative layers of difficulty which young mothers on low incomes may find themselves in when it comes to abusive partners. The pattern of social stratification remained the same when comparing different types of abuse. Mothers of boys were more likely to experience abuse, and to experience more types of abuse, more often. We reflect on how these findings could inform existing policy interventions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Fisher ◽  
Stephanie W. Hartwell ◽  
Xiaogang Deng

Poisson and negative binomial regression procedures have proliferated, and now are available in virtually all statistical packages. Along with the regression procedures themselves are procedures for addressing issues related to the over-dispersion and excessive zeros commonly observed in count data. These approaches, zero-inflated Poisson and zero-inflated negative binomial models, use logit or probit models for the “excess” zeros and count regression models for the counted data. Although these models are often appropriate on statistical grounds, their interpretation may prove substantively difficult. This article explores this dilemma, using data from a study of individuals released from facilities maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Correction.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002201832110505
Author(s):  
Amy Elkington

Abused women who are coerced to commit crime have no adequate legal defence. Historically, martial coercion may have been pled, but since its repeal and lack of replacement, abused women have been left without adequate protection in the criminal justice system. Duress would seem to be the logical defence in such a situation, but its construction by the courts means that women are still left with no defence. If a woman resists the coercion to commit crime, and instead protects herself against the abuse, she will equally have no suitable defence. Parliament were presented with the opportunity to rectify this problem when passing the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, but despite the Lords’ support, proposals were rejected by the Commons. Whilst research shows that crime committed under coercive control is not an insignificant problem, the current law does not protect some of the most vulnerable from prosecution.


2020 ◽  
pp. 160-177
Author(s):  
Joshua N. Aston

The Indian police force or the police system is an organization that is absolute in its institution. Thus it has been a big challenge to bring in a long-lasting and meaningful reforms in the system. This chapter discusses various reforms and recommendations by a number of committees set up in order to reform the Indian police system. There have been many high-level committees established, headed by eminent jurists, reformers, bureaucrats, and so on, to bring reforms in the system.


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