The Construction of Domestic Violence Among Police Officers

200 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998.Due to pressures from activists, large lawsuits, research studies, and changes in the law, police departments in the United States have experienced dramatic changes in their response to domestic violence. The purpose of this study is to examine police officers constructions of domestic violence. I argue that officers' interpretations of domestic violence are influenced by their personal lived experiences, prejudices, occupational culture, training and department policies. These interpretations, in turn, influence their responses to victims and offenders. Since the individual officer is one point where intervention with victims and offenders begins, individual constructions are pivotal to addressing policy implementation. I recommend that a feminist theoretical orientation be implemented in police training to reduce the gap between institutional and individual constructions of domestic violence. Policy makers, trainers, supervisors, victim advocates and victims must grasp the various factors that influence professionals' responses in order to expect full implementation of policies.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD