Prosecution of Batterers: Views of African American Battered Women

Findings from 207 interviews of urban, African American women indicated that 65% of the women said they favored prosecution of their abusers. A logistic regression showed that the following independent variables were related to significantly decreased odds of opposing prosecution: prosecution being initiated, being separated from partner, and abuser’s use of alcohol and/or drugs during violent incidents in the last 6 months. Bivariate analysis showed that a long history of severe abuse by the partner was associated with favoring prosecution. The most common reasons that women gave for favoring prosecution were that abuse is illegal and not acceptable and that abusers should not violate or touch women. The most common reasons for opposing prosecution were that women believed the incident was not serious or was the first time he was violent. The study can be used to expand discussion about prosecution of batterers.