Date of Award
2012
Publication Type
Master Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Psychology
Keywords
Social sciences, Psychology
Supervisor
Charlene Y. Senn
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Recent changes in police enforcement of the policy of mandatory arrest in heterosexual domestic violence situations have resulted in increased rates of women being arrested for assault even though their violence was in self-defence. Fifty-five university students participated in the online pilot study (phase 1) examining the perceptions of stereotypic and non-stereotypic female self-defence. The most (scratching) and least stereotypic (use of a kitchen knife) behaviours were then inserted into scenarios in the main study. Forty-five potential police officers from university and college settings participated online in the main study (phase 2) which examined attitudes and reactions to the victim, perpetrator, perceived appropriate interventions and acceptability of violence of both individuals, when a woman has used violence in self-defence. Though the majority of participants condemned the man's violence and would arrest him, a sizeable proportion of participants did not view the woman's self-defence as acceptable and would not rule out arresting her.
Recommended Citation
Sisic, Mia, "Judgments of arrest and attitudes toward women's self-defence in situations of intimate partner violence" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4842.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/4842