Confronting Violence

All They Can Do… Police Response to Battered Women's Complaints, 1983

This 129-page report presented findings from the study of Chicago police officers' attitudes towards "domestic disturbances" as they called them, as well as abused women's experiences, both with their batterer and with law enforcement. The authors sought to examine the "root of the problem" by describing the complexity of abusive relationships, officers' personal fear of safety when responding to domestic calls, and widespread ambivalence in society about the victims' circumstances. The purpose of the report was to educate officers about their role in dealing with domestic violence while also informing them of their new responsibilities to uphold requirements of the 1982 Illinois Domestic Violence Act.

Courtesy National Library of Medicine