DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03400
title: Evaluation of Law Enforcement Training for Domestic Violence Cases in a Southwestern City in Texas, 1997-1999
title: Archival Version

description: This study was an outcome evaluation of the effects of the
Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project Training Model for Law
Enforcement Response on police officer attitudes toward domestic
violence. Data on the effectiveness of the training were collected by
means of an attitude survey of law enforcement officers (Part
1). Additionally, two experimental designs (Part 2) were implemented
to test the effects of the Duluth model training on (1) time spent by
police officers at the scene of a domestic violence incident, and (2)
the number of convictions. Variables for Part 1 include the assigned
research group and respondents' level of agreement with various
statements, such as: alcohol is the primary cause of family violence,
men are more likely than women to be aggressive, only mentally ill
people batter their families, mandatory arrest of offenders is the
best way to reduce repeat episodes of violence, family violence is a
private matter, law enforcement policies are ineffective for
preventing family violence, children of single-parent, female-headed
families are abused more than children of dual-parent households, and
prosecution of an offender is unlikely regardless of how well a victim
cooperates. Index scores calculated from groupings of various
variables are included as well as whether the respondent found
training interesting, relevant, well-organized, and
useful. Demographic variables for each respondent include race,
gender, age, and assignment and position in the police department.
Variables for Part 2 include whether the domestic violence case
occurred before or after training, to which test group the case
belongs, the amount of time in minutes spent on the domestic violence
scene, and whether the case resulted in a conviction.
description: With funding from the Community Oriented Policing
 Service (COPS), the police department of a large southwestern city in
 Texas established the Domestic Violence Prevention Commission in 1996
 to develop an effective approach to reduce family violence in the
 city. Representatives of the Commission reflected a public and
 private, multi-level collaborative partnership and included members
 of the police department, the District Attorney's office, the County
 Attorney's office, the City Attorney's office, probation and parole
 units, the military, the school district, the Council of Judges,
 state, county, and municipal legal assistance organizations, Juvenile
 Probation, the Battered Women's Shelter, the Transitional Living
 Center, the clergy, and other volunteer services dealing with the
 problems of family violence. One goal of the Commission was to improve
 police response to domestic violence incidents. To this end, the
 Commission implemented the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project
 Training Model for Law Enforcement Response. The Duluth model had five
 primary foci: (1) the changing role of law enforcement in domestic
 violence cases, (2) safety and interviewing techniques, (3) the
 fundamentals of a domestic violence investigation, (4) documentation
 of evidence and report writing, and (5) special issues in
 investigating domestic violence cases. This study was an outcome
 evaluation of the effects of police officer training on police officer
 attitudes toward domestic violence (Part 1). In addition to testing
 the effects of the Duluth Model training on police officer attitudes,
 two other experimental designs (Part 2) were implemented to test the
 effects of the Duluth Model training on (1) time spent by police
 officers at the scene of a domestic violence incident, and (2) number
of convictions.
description: For Part 1, an experiment was designed to measure
 the effects of the Duluth model training on police officers' attitudes
 toward domestic violence intervention. Data on the effectiveness of
 the training were collected by means of an attitude survey of law
 enforcement officers. The Solomon four-group design was implemented to
 isolate and estimate the interaction effect that can occur when the
 subject deduces the desired results from a combination of the pre-test
 and test stimulus. The test stimulus was the Duluth model
 training. This design required four groups, two of which received the
 training (the experimental groups) and two of which did not (the
 control groups). The subjects comprising the experimental groups were
 police officers stationed at a regional command center. Of the two
 groups receiving the test stimulus, one group completed both a
 pre-test and post-test. The other completed only the post-test. The
 subjects for the control groups were selected from the four command
 stations that did not receive training. Of those officers who agreed
 to participate, every other officer completed the pre-test
 questionnaire. Forty-eight hours later (when there was a shift
 change), the post-test was administered to all the officers. The
 pre-test/post-test measuring instrument was a questionnaire consisting
 of a series of items designed to assess attitudes toward gender roles,
 police intervention in domestic violence, police policy surrounding
 domestic violence, prosecution, the training itself, and belief in
 inaccurate or simplistic causes of domestic violence. For Part 2, two
 additional experiments utilizing a classical experimental design were
 implemented to test the effects of the Duluth model training on (1)
 time police officers spent at the scene of a domestic violence
 incident, and (2) the number of convictions. Two computer systems were
 used to gather information: the Criminal Justice Information System
 (CJIS) and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD). Family violence cases for
 September 1998 through September 1999 were gathered from two sources
 at the District Attorney's (DA) office. Case numbers for which arrests
 had been made at the scene were collected from the District Attorney
 Information Management System (DIMS) department files. Non-arrest case
 numbers were gathered from the screening log of the family violence
 attorney in charge of overseeing the prosecution of family violence
 cases. Once the unique case number assigned by the local police
 department was identified, data were collected to be used in the
 experimental designs. The first experimental design was used to
 measure the effects of domestic violence response training and the
 amount of time spent at the scene of the domestic violence
 episode. For domestic violence offenses occurring from September 1998
 through September 1999, time spent at the scene by law enforcement
 officers was obtained from the police department's CAD system. For the
 purposes of this study, time at the scene was assigned to the
 principal or senior officer of record and was calculated as the
 difference between the initial time of arrival at the scene and the
 time when the police unit informed dispatch it was leaving the scene
 of the domestic violence call. Therefore, "time at the scene" was
 operationalized as the length of time in minutes that the officer
 spent at the family violence scene and did not include transport of
 the offender for booking. For "report only" cases in which the family
 violence victim filed a complaint at a police substation, time at the
 scene was operationalized as the time spent compiling the report for
 the victim. The test stimulus was the Duluth training. Cases managed
 by police officers who received training constituted the experimental
 group. Cases managed by police officers who did not receive training
 constituted the control group. The pre-test and post-test consisted of
 the amount of time spent at the scene of the domestic violence
 episode. The second experimental design measured the effects of the
 Duluth training on the number of convictions. Disposition of family
 violence cases was determined by locating the cases on the prosecuting
 attorney's centralized computer system. The outcome of each case was
 noted as either a dismissal or conviction. The pre-test and post-test
 consisted of the number of cases resulting in convictions from both
the control and experimental groups.
description: Variables for Part 1 include the assigned research
 group and respondents' level of agreement with various statements,
 such as: alcohol is the primary cause of family violence, men are more
 likely than women to be aggressive, only mentally ill people batter
 their families, mandatory arrest of offenders is the best way to
 reduce repeat episodes of violence, family violence is a private
 matter, law enforcement policies are ineffective for preventing family
 violence, children of single-parent, female-headed families are abused
 more than children of dual-parent households, and prosecution of an
 offender is unlikely regardless of how well a victim cooperates. Index
 scores calculated from groupings of various variables are included as
 well as whether the respondent found training interesting, relevant,
 well-organized, and useful. Demographic variables for each respondent
 include race, gender, age, and assignment and position in the police
 department. Variables for Part 2 include whether the domestic
 violence case occurred before or after training, to which test group
 the case belongs, the amount of time in minutes spent on the domestic
violence scene, and whether the case resulted in a conviction.
description: Response Rates: Unknown.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Likert scales were used in Part 1. There were no scales
used in Part 2.
description: Part 1: Convenience sampling. Part 2: inap.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Police Officer Survey Data
DS2: Experimental Design Data
description: Part 1: Law enforcement officers from selected command
centers who had been administered the Duluth Domestic Abuse
Intervention Project Training Model for Law Enforcement Response
(experimental group) and those who had not received the training
(control group). Part 2: Domestic violence cases handled by police
officers who had completed the Duluth model training.
description: The data available in this collection are part of
a broader evaluation project. Other components of the evaluation that
are not available through this data collection include the focus group
interviews, archival data in the form of meeting notes, and data used
to determine the effects of the Duluth model on the acceptance of a
case for prosecution. Users are strongly encouraged to obtain the
Final Report for this project in order to understand the entire
process evaluation.