Domestic Violence: Legislative Attitudes Toward a Coherent Public Policy

Abstract

This article examines legislative attitudes toward domestic violence policy. Legislative attitudes were examined through a survey of the Indiana General Assembly approximately one year after it enacted a new law that increased the authority of police to arrest in domestic violence cases. Despite this increase in police authority, substantial legislative support for a statewide domestic violence policy continued to exist. A multiple regression analysis of the relationship between legislative characteristics and support for a statewide domestic violence policy revealed that a geographical variable was most consistently related to legislative positions on the proposed policy. Findings are then discussed within the broader contexts of criminal justice policy making and domestic violence reform.