Domestic Violence Experience in Omaha, Nebraska, 1986-1987 (ICPSR 9481)

Version Date: Jul 24, 2006

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Principal Investigator(s):
Franklyn W. Dunford, University of Colorado at Boulder. Institute of Behavioral Science; David Huizinga, University of Colorado at Boulder. Institute of Behavioral Science; Delbert S. Elliott, University of Colorado at Boulder. Institute of Behavioral Science

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09481.v2

Version V2

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Summary

The purpose of this data collection was to corroborate the findings of SPECIFIC DETERRENT EFFECTS OF ARREST FOR DOMESTIC ASSAULT: MINNEAPOLIS, 1981-1982 (ICPSR 8250) that arrest is an effective deterrent against continued domestic assaults. The data addressed the following questions: (1) To what extent does arrest decrease the likelihood of continued violence, as assessed by the victim? (2) To what extent does arrest decrease the likelihood of continued complaints of crime, as assessed by police records? (3) What are the differences in arrest recidivism between cases that involved arrest versus cases that involved mediation, separation, warrant issued, or no warrant issued? Domestic violence cases in three sectors of Omaha, Nebraska, meeting established eligibility criteria, were assigned to one of five experimental treatments: mediation, separation, arrest, warrant issued, or no warrant issued. Data for victim reports were collected from three interviews with the victims conducted one week, six months, and 12 months after the domestic violence incident. Arrest, charge, and complaint data were collected on the suspects at six- and twelve-month intervals following the original domestic violence incident. The investigators used arrest recidivism, continued complaints of crime, and victim reports of repeated violence (fear of injury, pushing/hitting, and physical injury) as outcome measures to assess the extent to which treatments prevented subsequent conflicts. Other variables include victim's level of fear, self-esteem, locus of control, and welfare dependency, changes in the relationship between suspect and victim, extent of the victim's injury, and extent of drug use by the victim and the suspect. Demographic variables include race, age, sex, income, occupational status, and marital status.

Citation

Dunford, Franklyn W., Huizinga, David, and Elliott, Delbert S. Domestic Violence Experience in Omaha, Nebraska, 1986-1987. [distributor], 2006-07-24. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09481.v2

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (85-IJ-CX-K435)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

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Time Period(s)

1986 -- 1987

Date of Collection

1986-03 -- 1987-09
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Study Purpose

The purpose of the study was to corroborate the findings of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment (1984) that arrest is an effective deterrent against continued domestic assaults. The study addressed the following questions: (1) To what extent does arrest decrease the likelihood of continued violence, as assessed by the victim? (2) To what extent does arrest decrease the likelihood of continued complaints of crime, as assessed by police records? (3) What are the differences in arrest recidivism between cases that involved arrest versus cases that involved mediation, separation, warrant issued, or no warrant issued?

Study Design

Cases included in the study were required to meet the following eligibility criteria: (1) Probable cause for an arrest for misdemeanor assault was established. Cases lacking probable cause and felony assault cases were excluded. (2) The case involved at least two people, a victim and a suspect. (3) Both parties to the assault were at least 18 years of age. (4) Both parties lived together sometime during the year preceding the assault. (5) If the suspect was present, a check of police records indicated no arrest warrant was on file. If officers determined that the case met the eligibility criteria, a treatment was randomly assigned by a computer routine operated by the Information Unit of the Omaha Police Department. Cases in which both the victim and the suspect were present when the police arrived were assigned a treatment of either mediation, separation, or arrest. Cases in which no suspects were present at the time police arrived were assigned treatments of warrant issued or no warrant issued. Interviews with victims were conducted one week, six months, and 12 months after the domestic violence incident. Additional data were collected from police officers who completed Domestic Violence Report forms for each case. Police record searches were conducted on suspects six and twelve months after the incident. Continued complaints of crime, arrest recidivism, and victim reports of repeated violence (fear of injury, pushing/hitting, and physical injury) were used as outcome measures to assess the extent to which the various treatments prevented subsequent violence.

Sample

Two-stage random sampling design.

Universe

Domestic violence cases in Omaha, Nebraska during 1986-1987.

Unit(s) of Observation

Incidents of misdemeanor domestic assault.

Data Source

personal interviews and police records

Data Type(s)

Description of Variables

Data were collected regarding the nature of the domestic violence incident, subsequent incidents, the extent of the victim's injury, extent of drug use by the victim and the suspect, and the suspect-victim relationship. During the victim interviews additional data were collected regarding the victim's level of fear, self-esteem, locus of control, and welfare dependency, and changes in the relationship between suspect and victim. Demographic information includes age, sex, income, employment, and marital status. Arrest, charge, and complaint data were collected on the suspects at six- and twelve-month intervals following the original domestic violence incident.

Response Rates

A total of 577 domestic violence cases were selected for inclusion in the study. The number of respondents who completed interviews for Waves I, II, and III are 477 (81 percent), 438 (76 percent), and 416 (72 percent), respectively.

Presence of Common Scales

A modified Conflict Tactic Scale was used in the study. Hollingshead and Duncan Socioeconomic Indices are also included.

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Original Release Date

1991-03-05

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Dunford, Franklyn W., David Huizinga, and Delbert S. Elliott. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIENCE IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA, 1986-1987. Compiled by Franklyn W. Dunford, David Huizinga, and Delbert S. Elliott, University of Colorado at Boulder, Institute of Behavioral Science. ICPSR09481-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and distributor], 2006-07-24. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09481.v2

2006-07-24 All parts are being moved to restricted access and will be available only using the restricted access procedures.

2006-01-12 All files were removed from dataset 7 and flagged as study-level files, so that they will accompany all downloads.

2006-01-12 All files were removed from dataset 14 and flagged as study-level files, so that they will accompany all downloads.

2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable, and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to reflect these additions.

1992-02-17 Machine-readable documentation and SAS and SPSS data definition statements have been prepared for this collection. In addition, the data are now available in logical record length format.

1991-03-05 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Performed consistency checks.
  • Standardized missing values.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.