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Assessing the offending activity of criminal domestic violence suspects: offense specialization, escalation, and de-escalation evidence from the Spouse Assault Replication Program.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Piquero, AR; Brame, R; Fagan, J; Moffitt, TE
Published in: Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)
July 2006

Over the past quarter century, intimate partner violence research has occupied an increasingly important position in the research agenda of criminology, public policy, and public health. Yet, a number of questions about the criminal careers of domestic violence offenders remain unresolved. This study attempts to determine (1) the extent to which criminal domestic violence offenders specialize in violence, and (2) whether the severity of an offender's attacks against the same victim increase, decrease, or stay about the same over time.Data from the Spouse Assault Replication Program (SARP) are used to address two questions corresponding to different features of the criminal careers of domestic violence offenders.The specialization analysis reveals that the majority of domestic violence offenders with prior official criminal records have been involved in nonviolent forms of criminal behavior in addition to domestic violence. The escalation analysis identifies groups of escalators and de-escalators as well as individuals who engage in stable low-level aggression and stable high-level aggression.Few SARP domestic violence offenders have been specializing exclusively in violence. There is also a heterogeneous mix of offenders who escalate and de-escalate the severity of their attacks over the short-term follow-up periods. Few studies have presented data consistent with the present study's findings. A longitudinal analysis of the criminal careers of domestic violence offender subtypes is critical for future research.

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Published In

Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)

DOI

EISSN

1468-2877

ISSN

0033-3549

Publication Date

July 2006

Volume

121

Issue

4

Start / End Page

409 / 418

Related Subject Headings

  • Wounds and Injuries
  • Spouse Abuse
  • Risk Assessment
  • Public Health
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Criminal Law
  • 4407 Policy and administration
  • 4206 Public health
 

Citation

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Piquero, A. R., Brame, R., Fagan, J., & Moffitt, T. E. (2006). Assessing the offending activity of criminal domestic violence suspects: offense specialization, escalation, and de-escalation evidence from the Spouse Assault Replication Program. Public Health Reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 121(4), 409–418. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335490612100409
Piquero, Alex R., Robert Brame, Jeffrey Fagan, and Terrie E. Moffitt. “Assessing the offending activity of criminal domestic violence suspects: offense specialization, escalation, and de-escalation evidence from the Spouse Assault Replication Program.Public Health Reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) 121, no. 4 (July 2006): 409–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335490612100409.
Piquero, Alex R., et al. “Assessing the offending activity of criminal domestic violence suspects: offense specialization, escalation, and de-escalation evidence from the Spouse Assault Replication Program.Public Health Reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), vol. 121, no. 4, July 2006, pp. 409–18. Epmc, doi:10.1177/003335490612100409.
Journal cover image

Published In

Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)

DOI

EISSN

1468-2877

ISSN

0033-3549

Publication Date

July 2006

Volume

121

Issue

4

Start / End Page

409 / 418

Related Subject Headings

  • Wounds and Injuries
  • Spouse Abuse
  • Risk Assessment
  • Public Health
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Criminal Law
  • 4407 Policy and administration
  • 4206 Public health