cjrc-sponsored research

  • Project:
  • Pathways and Outcomes of Victim Recantation in Court-Involved Intimate Partner Violence Cases

  • Investigator:
  • Amy Bonomi (Human Development & Family Science)

  • Abstract:
  • Studies point to high levels of victim recantation in cases involving intimate partner violence, yet the dynamics and outcomes of recantation are unclear. We will study conversational strategies used by a subset of 16 legally-involved couples with a history of violence to regulate interpersonal closeness and distance in the context of impending legal prosecution—strategies that can be linked to recantation decisions and to legal outcomes. Secondary data provided by the King County Prosecution Division located in Seattle, Washington, will be used, specifically audio-taped telephone conversations occurring between perpetrators and victims during the pre-prosecution incarceration period. To determine how these high-stakes conversations function, especially in regard to reasons for recantation by the victim, we will also assemble information from police, prosecution and sentencing files from all 16 couples regarding context (e.g., prior arrests) and the final legal outcome, including decisions and outcomes associated with the abuse event that led to incarceration as well as subsequent police-reported and court-involved abuse events. The study has implications for criminal justice practice and policy because it will lead to a one-of-a-kind, in-depth analysis of how IPV victims respond to their perpetrators in regard to recantation decisions and outcomes of the legal process involving an IPV event. The study will help inform intervention practices, including how law enforcement is carried out during incarceration.