When should law enforcement arrest a victim of domestic abuse?

Answer 1

With the changes of the laws in the past 15 years or so, Police don't have a choice in when to arrest. If a household resident says another hit them, threatened them or if the officer believes the assault will occur after he/she leaves...they must arrest.

Answer 2

An arrest can occur when there is probable cause to believe a crime has occurred and that the person to be arrested has committed the crime. Depending on state law and the severity of the offense, a custodial arrest (i.e. handcuffs and a booking) may not be required. In some cases a citation (release on a signed promise to appear in court) might be sufficient to resolve the arrest. In CA that is the common route taken with many misdemeanors. However, domestic violence is an exception to that rule and an arrest is generally encouraged even in the case of DV.

In most states, the law encourages the officer(s) to identify a primary aggressor and to make an arrest of that individual. So, while the individual may have in fact been the victim of DV, if the information available to the officers at the scene indicate that the alleged victim is indeed the primary aggressor, that is the person that may go to jail. In some cases, BOTH parties could go to jail.

The laws regarding DV vary to some degree in each state so a proper answer would have to be geared toward the laws in a specific state.

- Carl

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

When the victim assaulted the person preforming the domestic abuse. There is a huge difference between defending yourself and assaulting someone. Most of the time when the cops come and both people have injuries they arrest both parties.

Answer 5

In my experience the true "victim" is a rare bird indeed. There are few things worse than a man who beats women, but more often than not it takes two to tango. Also it seems that the true victims are the ones we don't know about until its too late. So a real victim would not ever have reason to be arrested. Usually more to the story.

Answer 6

It's a hard call, because despite the number of abused women out there, and how bad (morally and legally) the crime of abusing a woman is - there are a lot of women who attack men, and don't have to worry about anything happening because of it. The man on the other hand can't even defend himself without risking jail time.

It is good when the officer responding to a domestic disturbance call can get a clear idea of the situation. They can't always just base it on who has what injuries - since if the man attacked the woman, he would have scratches and stuff from where she was defending herself. If the woman doesn't have any injuries, but the guys face is all scratched up, and yet she is screaming about the man attacking her - the officer should take a closer look.

I have a love/hate relationship with cops since they have to deal with some of the lowest common denominator a-holes out there. I know I couldn't deal with some of the stuff they see on a regular basis - like some drunk redneck beating up on his wife and kids - I would beat him within an inch of his life with my baton if I didn't just shoot him first.

They unfortunately are given the responsibility of having to try to work out solutions for stupid people and their crappy relationships - think about how bad that would suck...

Answer 7

There is self defense, then there is losing control. Self defense is doing an equal applied force, rendering you enough time to get away from the threat, and is legal.

If the victim continues fighting with his/her attacker, then they can be arrested if the other person decides to press charges. Also if someone kills or attempts to kill their abuser when they weren't in an immediate life or death situation.

Answer 8

When there is probable cause to believe that the victim also committed a crime (past felony, or ongoing/current misdemeanor) and when there is not a colorable claim of an affirmative defense.

This is the same standard they should be using for any arrest.

Answer 9

When they have reasonable grounds to do so.
BUT.....
Should/will the courts convict???
It would be up to a judge to decide if the victim was so abused that they felt the need to strike first to save their lives (battered wife syndrome).

Officers charge and arrest on reasonable grounds (USA=probable cause) it is up the the courts to prove they are guilty or not.

Answer 10

It varies from state to state. In my state, if the police are called for a domestic violence dispute, someone has to go to jail. Who goes to jail, depends on who has the most physical evidence and can convince the police who is at fault. For example, if my husband grabs me and shoves me against the wall and holds me against my will, and I manage to pick up something heavy and smack him with it, he's probably going to have the most bruises and/or blood. If he strikes back and I strike him back, we both can go to jail unless I convince the police that I was acting purely in self-defense.

If I can't convince them and I have marks and bruises as well, then we both should be taken to jail and booked to let the court sort it out. In most cases, they do.

However, a few years ago, my sister's boyfriend came home drunk and started pushing her around and cussing her. She tried to leave and he wouldn't let her. This had happened a couple of times before and she had never fought back. That night, he kept blocking her path to the door by shoving her against the wall. The neighbors called the police. After about 3 shoves, she knocked the hell of him and gave him a black eye. By the time the police got there, he not only had a black eye, but a busted lip and a knot on his head the size of an egg. More importantly, he was so drunk that he was almost out on the floor.

The police got a big laugh out of that, but she was arrested. When my brother went to get her out of jail, the police went with them to the apartment to pack her things. She was mad and wanting to fight charges. I told her that she was probably better off paying the fine and moving on. It's like dealing with bullies at school, once you fight back, they leave you alone. You may have to take the punishment, but you get your message across to the one who needs to understand. He never bothered her after that and now, she considers it money well spent.