PUBLISHED FINDINGS FROM THE SPOUSE ASSAULT REPLICATION PROGRAM - A CRITICAL-REVIEW

Published reports from seven jointly developed experiments have addres sed whether or not arrest is an effective deterrent to misdemeanor spo use assault. Findings supporting a deterrent effect, no effect, and an escalation effect have been reported by the original authors and in i nterpretations of the published findings by other authors. This review found many methodologically defensible approaches used in these repor ts but not one of these approaches was used consistently in all publis hed reports. Tables reporting the raw data on the prevalence and incid ence of repeat incidents are presented to provide a more consistent co mparison across all seven experiments. This review concludes that the available information is incomplete and inadequate for a definitive st atement about the results of these experiments. Researchers and policy makers are urged to use caution in interpreting the findings availabl e to date.