Police response to incidents of heterosexual, gay and lesbian domestic violence

Abstract

Domestic violence is a crime that has received significant public attention over the past few years, particularly in regards to police response. This has been especially true for domestic violence within the gay and lesbian community. The current study compares police response to three different scenarios involving domestic violence: one is a heterosexual couple, the second is a gay couple, and the third is a lesbian couple. The areas examined were responsibility placed on victim/offender, charges filed, the potential arresting of the victim/offender, and acceptance of physical violence. One-way analysis of variance was conducted. Results indicated a significant finding that police placed more responsibility on the female victim in the lesbian scenario then in the other two scenarios. If is worth noting that no other significant findings were established, suggesting less discrimination then hypothesized.