Police responses to restraining orders in domestic violence incidents - Identifying the custody-threshold thesis

The present analysis examines the extent to which police officers arrest do mestic violence offenders who violate restraining orders. The study develop s a theoretical framework, referred to as the custody-threshold thesis, tha t considers the decision to arrest;to be a function of the officers' goals to satisfy one of several purposes of custody. Findings from logistic regre ssion modeling show that restraining-order violations in domestic violence incidents have the greatest impact on arrest probability when risk of injur y to the victim is low but that as risk increases, the predictive strength of restraining-order violations diminishes. Findings support the custody-th reshold thesis, suggesting important policy implications, which are identif ied and discussed.