Exploring 2006 Felony Domestic Violence Cases In Dallas County: Characterization And Analysis

Abstract

In 2004 the city of Dallas police department reported that among violent crimes, family violence was second only to assault in occurrence. This trend is observed throughout Dallas County, which is the focus of this exploratory study. The data consist of 904 family violence cases drawn from disposed felony family violence cases processed through the district attorney's office in 2006. We employed, geographic information systems, and bivariate and multivariate analysis to explore influences of family violence victims and the district attorney advocates on court outcomes. Variables used in these analyses included: 1) incident address (modified to protect confidentiality), 2) filing for and affidavit of non-prosecution, 3) advocate contact and 4) court outcome. Overall the findings suggest that felony family violence cases occur in high density within predominantly poor, African American communities. In addition, relationship type and length appeared to predict victims filing affidavits of non-prosecution. We also found evidence that advocates played a limited role in court outcome. The findings from this study bring to light the need for more in depth research into the interactions between the criminal justice system and victims in order to better address their safety and multiple needs.