Society today is plagued by abuse of all kinds, but one of the most devastating is domestic abuse. There have been many approaches to combating the issue, but not all have been successful. In fact, only until the early eighties did the American Bar Association’s view shift from the sentiment that domestic violence were “conflicts … which occur between husband and wife.” (qtd in “Mandatory Arrests Increase Domestic Violence”).  One of the popular methods of dealing with domestic abuse in effect today are the mandatory arrest laws. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have adopted and passed mandatory arrest policies, and eight other states have “recommended” arrest laws. The mandatory arrest policy “requires police to arrest a suspect without a warrant, if there is probable cause to suspect that an individual has committed some form of assault (either misdemeanor or felonious) against an intimate partner or family member” (Iyengar). Although some may say that mandatory arrest policies help victims by keeping them from being injured, in actuality domestic violence remains a large problem today, the policy increases homicides, and the implementation of this policy was based widely on a single experiment known as the Minnesota Domestic Violence Experiment (MDVE) that has now been criticized.

If the mandatory arrest laws are supposed to help improve the problem of domestic violence, then why does it continues to be a huge issue? Supporters of the laws say that it prevents the escalation of violence, (Abdelnabi) but in the United States, three women are murdered by their “intimate partners” a day. There are over two million injuries and 1000 fatalities caused by domestic violence every year (“Domestic Violence”). One and a half million women and half a million men have to seek medical assistance annually because of violence they face at home, and violence happens in two thirds of every home (Klofas). One would hope that a policy mandating arrest of abusers would lower domestic violence as a whole. There should be a decline in abuse if the law is working. If there isn’t improvement, a new law should be enacted that addresses the problem effectively.

There are findings that mandatory arrests increase homicides. According to the article “Mandatory Arrests Increase Domestic Violence,” “The results suggest that mandatory arrest laws are responsible for an additional 0.8 murders per 100,000 people. This corresponds to a 54 percent increase in intimate partner homicides.” The author of the study hypothesizes that this is because of a decline in reporting abuse. This could be because of the guilt felt by victims--domestic violence is about control--or that the abusers may be released within the day and “terrorize” the victim more. (Iyengar). A policy that is designed to bring abusers to justice should not cause further harm and deaths to victims of domestic abuse.

The [Minneapolis] Minnesota Domestic Violence Experiment was conducted in the eighties, and is what was used by “US Department of Justice, academics, legislators, and criminal justice spokespersons to justify and support mandatory arrest policies” (Iyengar). The results of the experiment are experimental, and even the authors of the study support annulling mandatory arrest laws (Klofas). The authors state that “It may be premature to conclude that arrest is always the best way for police to handle domestic violence…” (qtd. in “Mandatory Arrest and Restraining Orders Are Ineffective”) The experiment began by a police officer responding  to a domestic violence call and having them use one of three methods of treatment. The first was a mediation and counseling the dispute, and the second was separating the abuser from the victim. The last was arresting the abuser or suspect. Afterward, the conductors interviewed the victims post-police involvement, and followed up every two weeks for six months. The results showed that arresting the suspect caused less future violence than advising or counseling them. These results are unreliable because once replicated, there were conflicting results. One of the important findings was that arrest deterred only the employed, because the poor had less to lose from being arrested. The other was that arrest doubled violence rates within a year (Klofas). Murray Straus, an American professor of sociology, argued that overusing criminal penalties can add excess marriage strain, and did not protect serious assault victims (qtd in “Mandatory Arrest Laws Do Not Reduce Domestic Violence”). Because of the unstable results, the creators of mandatory arrest laws should not continue to use MDVE as basis that the policies should be enacted.

With all of its fatalities and injuries, domestic abuse will continue to be a threat to society until an approach is found that is effective in protecting the best interests of the victim. The laws and policies claim to prevent injury and future violence, while in reality domestic violence rates continue to be high, murder increases, and the experiment used to support mandatory arrest laws is questionable when analyzed further. The mandatory arrest policies are not doing what they are intended to, and therefore should be abolished.

Works Cited

Abdelnabi, Rasmieyh. "Mandatory Arrest Policies Help Prevent Domestic Violence."
Domestic Violence. Ed. Mike Wilson. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.
Davis, Richard L. "Mandatory Arrest and Restraining Orders Are Ineffective."
Domestic Violence: Facts and Fallacies. Rpt. in Family Violence. Ed. J.D. Lloyd. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.
"Domestic Violence."
Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
Klofas, John. "Mandatory Arrest Laws Do Not Reduce Domestic Violence."
Violence Against Women. Ed. Karen F. Balkin. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "At Home with Good and Evil: The Politics of Domestic Violence." City Newspaper 14 Oct. 1998. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.
Iyengar, Radha. "Mandatory Arrests Increase Domestic Violence."
Domestic Violence. Ed. Mike Wilson. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.