Family Violence and Police Response: Learning from Research, Policy and Practice in European Countries

Police response to incidents of intimate partner violence can be critical. This volume investigates the elements in the institutional, legal and organizational context that are relevant for police response to incidents in the realm of the private sphere and whether there exists a relation with the reporting of such incidents by victims. Addressing this complex question requires insights from research, policy and practice and, as such, any conclusions will have implications for each of these fields. This volume addresses issues that are key elements in the relationship between the (legal) response to family violence and the reporting by victims. These issues concern societal and legal definitions of family violence employed in research, policy making and legal practice; how the legislation of various countries covers violence in the private sphere; the way the police deal with reported incidents of intimate partner violence; and the role that other interventions play in the response to and combat of family violence and intimate partner violence.

Wilma Smeenk is Senior Researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), The Netherlands. She studied sociology at the University of Nijmegen and received her doctor’s degree with a dissertation about family formation and partner choice. At the NSCR, she combines a strong interest in theory development and epistemology with quantitative and qualitative research in schools and families. Research topics of interest are: family violence, cross-cultural research, developmental criminology, violence against women, and the inter-generational transmission of violence. Marijke Malsch studied social sciences and law at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In 1989, she received her doctor’s degree with a dissertation entitled: Lawyers’ predictions of judicial decisions: A study on calibration of experts. In 1999, she edited Complex cases: Perspectives on the Netherlands criminal justice system together with Hans Nijboer. She has been a senior researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) in Leiden, The Netherlands since 1993. Current research focuses on family violence, stalking legislation, legitimacy of the criminal justice system, experts in the criminal justice system, and the principle of open justice. Since 1997, she has also worked part-time as a judge at the District Court of Haarlem.