Domestic Violence in Criminal Court

Many states have recently passed new legislation to deal with spouse abuse, including several which have created a new criminal offense: domestic violence. This study examines all 1980 charges under Ohio's new domestic violence law in a large misdemeanor court and concludes that the creation of a new offense category does not cause major changes in measurable court outcomes. For example, 73% of victims who filed charges dropped them before a verdict was reached. This figure is extremely high. Combined with the large number of victims who never file, it suggests that most abusers do not go through a complete trial. Moreover, even when victims persevere and the batterer is found guilty, very little happens to him. Sixty-four percent did not spend even one day in jail, less that 10% were sentenced to alternative programs, and 27% were neither jailed nor placed on probabtion. Even when found guilty, most abusers are neither punished nor offered help. This study makes two recommendations. The first suggests a ...