Abstract
There is extensive research that addresses the role of police in responding to domestic violence calls. However, there has been relatively little attention to the factors that impel women to call the police during an incident of abuse. This paper investigates the role of alcohol and drugs in influencing women's utilization of the police for misdemeanor-level incidents of abuse, and is based on interview data from 419 abused women. Results indicate that women are significantly more likely to call the police when male partners use both alcohol and drugs, and when they are frequently drunk. Offender drunkenness, rather than the quantity or frequency of alcohol consumption, has a significant escalation effect on police utilization by victims of abuse.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abel, E. M., and Suh, E. K. (1987). Use of police services by battered women. Soc. Work 32: 526-528.
Bachman, R., and Coker, A. L. (1995). Police involvement in domestic violence: The interactive effects of victim injury, offender's history of violence, and race. Violence Vict. 10: 91-106.
Barnett, O. W., and Fagan, R. W. (1993). Alcohol use in male spouse abusers and their female partners. J. Fam. Violence 8: 1-25.
Bennett, L. W. (1995). Substance abuse and the domestic assault of women. Soc. Work 40: 760-771.
Berk, R. A., Berk, S. F., Newton, P. J., and Loseke, D. R. (1984). Cops on call: Summoning the police to the scene of spousal violence. Law Soc. Rev. 18: 479-498.
Bowker, L. H. (1982). Police services to battered women: Bad or not so bad? Crim. Justice Behav. 9: 476-494
Bowker, L. H. (1984). Battered wives and the police: A national study of usage and effectiveness. Police Stud. 7: 84-93.
Brookoff, D., O'Brien, K. K., Cook, C. S., Thompson, T. D., and Williams, C. (1997). Characteristics of participants in domestic violence. JAMA 277: 1369-1373.
Bushman, B. J., and Cooper, H. M. (1990). Effects of alcohol on human aggression: An integrative research review. Psychol. Bull. 107: 341-354.
Collins, J. J., and Schlenger, W. E. (1988). Acute and chronic effects of alcohol use on violence. J. Stud. Alcohol 49: 516-521.
Conaway, M. R., and Lohr, S. L. (1994). A longitudinal analysis of factors associated with reporting violent crimes to the police. J. Quantit. Criminol. 10: 23-39
Downs, W. R., Miller, B. A., and Gondoli, D. M. (1987). Childhood experiences of parental physical violence for alcoholic women as compared with a randomly selected household sample of women. Violence Vict. 2: 225-240.
Downs, W. R., Miller, B. A., and Panek, D. D. (1993). Differential patterns of partner-to-woman violence: A comparison of samples of community, alcohol-abusing, and battered women. J. Fami. Violence 8: 113-135
Downs, W. R., Miller, B. A., Testa, M., and Panek, D. (1992). Long-term effects of parent-to-child violence for women. J. Interpers. Violence 7: 365-382.
Finn, P. R., Sharkansky, E. J., Viken, R., West, T. L., Sandy, J., and Bufferd, G. M. (1997). Heterogeneity in the families of sons of alcoholics: The impact of familial vulnerability type on offspring characteristics. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 106: 26-36.
Flanzer, J. P. (1993). Alcohol and other drugs are key causal agents in violence. In Gelles, R. J., and Loseke, D. R. (Eds.), Current Controversies on Family Violence Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 171-181.
Gelles, R. J. (1972). The Violent Home, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA
Gelles, R. J. (1993). Alcohol and other drugs are associated with violence—they are not its cause. In Gelles, R. J., and Loeseke, D. R. (Eds.), Current Controversies on Family Violence, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 182-196.
Gondolf, E. W. (1988). Who are those guys? Toward a behavioral typology of batterers. Violence Vic. 3: 187-203
Gondolf, E. W. (1995). Alcohol abuse, wife assault, and power needs. Soc. Serv. Rev. 69: 274-284
Gondolf, E., Fisher, E., and McFerron, J. (1990). The helpseeking behavior of battered women: An analysis of 6000 shelter interviews. In Viano, E. C. (ed.), The Victimology Handbook, Garland Press, New York, pp. 113-127.
Gordon, L. (1988). Heroes of Their Own Lives, Penguin Press, New York.
Hayashino, D. S., Wurtele, S. K., and Klebe, K. J. (1995). Child molesters: An examination of cognitive factors. J. Interpersonal Viol. 10: 106-116
Hayes, H. R., and Emshoff, J. G. (1993). Substance abuse and family violence. In Hampton, R. L., Gullotta, T. P., Adams, G. R., Potter, E. H., and Weissberg, R. P. (Eds.), Family Violence: Prevention and Treatment, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 281-309.
Hirschel, J. D., Hutchison, I. W., Dean, C.W., Kelley, J. K., and Pesackis, C. E. (1991). Charlotte Spouse Assault Replication Project: Final Report, National Institute of Justice, Washington, DC
Hotaling, G. T., and Sugarman, D. B. (1990). A risk marker analysis of assaulted wives. J. Fam. Violence 5: 1-13.
Hutchison, I. W. (1999). The effect of children's presence on alcohol use by spouse abusers and their victims. Fam. Relat. 48: 57-65.
Hutchison, I. W., and Hirschel, J. D. (1994). Family violence and police utilization. Violence Vict. 9: 299-313.
Hutchison, I. W., and Hirschel, J. D. (1996). Spouse abuse: Do children make a difference? Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology, Chicago, IL
Hutchison, I. W., and Hirschel, J. D. (1998). Abused women: Help-seeking strategies and police utilization. Violence Against Women 4: 436-456.
Hutchison, I. W., and Hirschel, J. D. (2001). The effects of children's presence on woman abuse. Violence Vict. 16: 3-17.
Ireland, T., and Widom, C. S. (1994). Childhood victimization and risk for alcohol and drug arrests. Int. J. Addict. 29: 235-274.
Johnson, I. M. (1990). A loglinear analysis of wives' decisions to call the police in domestic-violence disputes. J. Crim. Justice 18: 147-159
Jones, D. A., and Belknap, J. (1996). Police responses to battering in a pro-arrest jurisdiction. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Society of Criminology, Chicago, IL
Kantor, G. K., and Asdigian, N. (1997). When women are under the influence: Does drinking or drug use by women provoke beatings by men? In Galanter, M. (ed.), Recent Developments in Alcoholism, Vol. 13: Alcohol and Violence, Plenum, New York, pp. 315-336.
Kantor, G. K., and Straus, M. A. (1989). Substance abuse as a precipitant of wife abuse victimizations. Am. J. Drug Alcohol Abuse 15: 173-189
Kantor, G. K., and Straus, M. A. (1990a). Response of victims and the police to assaults on wives. In Straus, M. A., and Gelles, R. A. (Eds.), Physical Violence in American Families, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, pp. 473-487.
Kantor, G., and Straus, M. (1990b). The “Drunken Bum” theory of wife beating. In Straus, M. A., and Gelles, R. J. (Eds.), Physical Violence in American Families, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, pp. 203-234.
Kerig, P. K. (1998). Gender and appraisals as mediators of adjustment in children exposed to interparental violence. J. Fam. Violence 13: 345-363.
Labell, L. S. (1979). Wife abuse: A sociological study of battered women and their mates. Victimol. Int. J. 4: 258-267.
Langan, P., and Innes, C. (1986). U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Preventing Domestic Violence Against Women, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, DC
Leonard, K. E., Bromet, E. J., Parkinson, D. K., Day, N. L., and Ryan, C. M. (1985). Patterns of alcohol use and physically aggressive behavior in men. J. Stud. Alcohol 46: 279-282
Leonard, K., Dunn, N. J., and Jacob, T. (1983). Drinking problems of alcoholics: Correspondence between self and spouse reports. Addict. Behav. 8: 369-373.
Leonard, K. E., and Jacob, T. (1988). Alcohol, alcoholism, and family violence. In Van Hasselt, V. B., Morrison, R. L., Bellack, A. S., and Hersen, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Family Violence, Plenum, New York, pp. 383-406.
Maisto, S. A., and O'Farrell, T. J. (1985). Comment on the validity of Watson et al.'s ‘Do alcoholics give valid self-reports?’ J. Stud. Alcohol 46: 447-450
Martin, S. E. (ed.).(1993). Alcohol and Interpersonal Violence: Fostering Multidisciplinary Perspectives, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, MD
Midanik, L. T. (1988). Validity of self-reported alcohol use: A literature review and assessment. Br. J. Addict. 83: 1019-1029.
Miller, B. A., Downs, W. R., and Gondoli, D. M. (1989). Spousal violence among alcoholic women as compared to a random household sample of women. J. Stud. Alcohol 50: 533-540.
Miller, B. A., Downs, W. R., and Testa, M. (1993). Interrelationships between victimization experiences and women's alcohol use. J. Stud. Alcohol 11: 109-117.
Miller, B. A., Nochajski, T. H., Leonard, K. E., Blane, H. T., Gondoli, D. M., and Bowers, P. M. (1990). Spousal violence and alcohol/drug problems among parolees and their spouses. Women Crim. Justice 1: 55-71.
Morgenstern, J., Langenbucher, J., Labouvie, E., and Miller, K. J. (1997). The comorbidity of alcoholism and personality disorders in a clinical population: Prevalence rates and relation to alcohol typology variables. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 106: 74-84.
Pernanen, K. (1991). Alcohol in Human Violence, Guilford Press, New York.
Reiss, A. J., and Roth, J. A. (Eds.).(1993). Understanding and Preventing Violence, National Academy Press, Washington, DC
Russell, D. (1984). Sexual Exploitation, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA
Saunders, D. G. (1992). A typology of men who batter: Three types derived from cluster analysis. Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 62: 264-275.
Schulman, M. (1979). A Survey of Spousal Violence Against Women in Kentucky, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC
Selzer, M. (1971). The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test: The quest for a new diagnostic instrument. Am. J. Psychiatry 127: 1653-1658.
Shields, N. M., McCall, G. J., and Hanneke, C. R. (1988). Patterns of family and non-family violence: Violent husbands and violent men. Violence Vict. 3: 83-98.
Stith, S. M., and Farley, S. C. (1993). A predictive model of male spousal violence. J. Fam. Violence 8: 183-201.
Straus, M. A., and Gelles, R. J. (1990). Physical Violence in American Families, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick.
Telch, C. F., and Lindquist, C. U. (1984). Violent versus non-violent couples: A comparison of patterns. Psychotherapy 2: 242-248.
Van Hasselt, V. B., Morrison, R. L., and Bellack, A. S. (1985). Alcohol use in wife abusers and their spouses. Addict. Behav. 10: 127-135.
Watson, C. G. (1985). More reasons for a moratorium: A reply to Maisto and O'Farrell. J. Stud. Alcohol 46: 450-453.
Watson, C. G., Tilleskjor, C., Hoodecheck-Schow, E., Pucel, J., and Jacobs, L. (1984). Do alcoholics give valid self-reports? J. Stud. Alcohol 45: 344-348
Widom, C. S. (1989). The cycle of violence. Science 244: 160-166.
Widom, C. S., Ireland, T., and Glynn, P. J. (1995). Alcohol abuse in abused and neglected children followed-up: Are they at increased risk? J. Stud. Alcohol 13: 207-217.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hutchison, I.W. Substance Use and Abused Women's Utilization of the Police. Journal of Family Violence 18, 93–106 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022889131043
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022889131043