MYHILL 2016 Police use of discretion in response to DV

Question 1

“Goldstein’s classic (1963) account of police discretion contrasted the ‘ideal’ of full enforcement of the law with the ‘reality’ that both police managers and frontline officers are required to use..

Answer 1

considerable discretion in discharging their roles”

Question 2

“The need for discretion is, then, in part a consequence of the frontline officer being in reality ‘primarily a “peace officer” rather than a…

Answer 2

“law officer”’ (BANTON, 1964:127)

Question 3

“Question of police discretion…hotly contested…in relation to…

Answer 3

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE”

Question 4

Study of police responses to DV from the 1970s onwards documented the problems posed by the interaction of police discretion and the uniformed…

Answer 4

sexist attitudes of officers

Question 5

(Police response 1970s onwards) many officers regarded DV as a civil matter and not something that the police should be involved with, saw it as ‘rubbish’ work to be afforded a low priority alongside…

Answer 5

‘real’ crime-focused activity

Question 6

Recent years, development of a culture of ‘risk aversion’ in UK policing, which has been suggested has developed in part as a result of the extensive scrutiny and inspection regimes by bodies such as…

Answer 6

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)

Question 7

Suggestion that risk and managerialist cultures have shaped the way police respond to DV, such as the agreed…

Answer 7

defintion

Question 8

DV = a high profile policy issue in England and Wales, exemplified by the Home Office’s announcement of legislation to criminalise CC. Such a law could pose a challenge to frontline officers in terms of…

Answer 8

recording accurately a ‘course of conduct’

Question 9

Link to Skolnick’s 1966 ‘working personality’ and efficiency - issue of clear-up rates, many officers perceive that victims of DV are particularly likely to withdraw a complaint, resulting in an…

Answer 9

undetected crime

Question 10

Characteristic of Police occupational culture - an over-focus on crime fighting and law enforcement may afford DV as a

Answer 10

low priority

Question 11

Masculine ethos in policing may cause officers to perceive ambiguous situations from a…

Answer 11

male perspective

Question 12

Westmarland (2001) describes a tendency for male officers to attempt to exert control over…

Answer 12

their female colleagues

Question 13

Cuffing of domestic-related incidents. Cuffing is seen traditionally as downgrading the seriousness of a criminal offence, or concluding that the offence did not take place or is not worthy of…

Answer 13

police intervention

Question 14

Cuffing of domestic-related incidents. Incentive for a call-taker to cuff a domestic-related incident is less clear, but could stem from(2)…

Answer 14

lack of understanding of the dynamics of DV

organizational imperative not to carry too many ‘open’ CAD logs

Question 15

‘Quasi-cuffs’ describes cases where officers dealt - often thoroughly and satisfactorily - with one component of an incident, but ignored or failed to identify and address a possible..

Answer 15

domestic abuse element

Question 16

Myhill’s findings show that police officers are required legitimately to use discretion in the invention and classification of incidents that may constitute DV.
There are numerous examples of domestic-related incidents (3):

Answer 16

Not being investigated thoroughly

Being misclassified

Being downgraded

Question 17

(Myhill) it is is still possible for officers to minimise the seriousness of domestic-related incidents, or even make them disappear altogether. In that sense, frontline officers, in particular, influence to some degree (2)

Answer 17

what DV is

how police and their partner agencies respond to it

Question 18

COY ET AL. 2012 - Research has show that civil issues such as child contact are used as means of continuing to…

Answer 18

exert control by coercive EX-partners

Question 19

Requirement for police officers and staff from the control room, through the frontline and up the supervisory chain to use their discretion when…

Answer 19

interpreting and classifying cases of DV

Question 20

ISSUES:

DV = difficult to get a ‘result’ as many victims do not support a

Answer 20

prosecution

Question 21

ISSUES:
Resourcing - frontline officers writing up incidents after their shift, officers aren’t paid routinely for overtime, there is little incentive for them to investigate and document thoroughly a case they may regard as

Answer 21

‘low risk’

Question 22

ISSUES:

Police knowledge of issue - some lacked basic understanding of CC abuse that would enable them to respond…

Answer 22

consistently and effectively and not regard it as being of no risk