Mandatory arrest: A flawed policy based on a false premise

Mandatory arrest: A flawed policy based on a false premise

The National Institute of Justice report, Controlling Violence Against Women: A Research Perspective on the 1994 Violence Against Women Act’s Criminal Justice Impacts, cautions that advocates and public policy makers need to know that their policies and practices will not endanger women (Ford, Bachman, Friend & Meloy, 2002). What should be troubling to all criminal justice professionals is that most advocates and almost all public policy makers do not know or are unwilling to recognize that mandatory “one-size-fits-all” policies can endanger some women, men and children (Dugan, Nagin & Rosenfeld, 2003; Eng, 2003; Hanna, 1998).