New York City Criminal Justice Agency Research Department

QUICKVIEWS No. 1: Domestic Violence Case Outcomes

PREPARED BY: Richard R. Peterson, Director, Research Department (1/04)

For more information, please see the following report: Research Brief No. 4: Combating Domestic Violence in New York City, 2001. Click here to view the report.

NOTES:
THE FIRST QUARTER 2001 DATASET
The dataset includes information about arrests in New York City in the first quarter of 2001. The data are limited to cases that were disposed in the lower court (Criminal Court) and exclude felony cases that were disposed in the upper court (Supreme Court). Since few DV cases are disposed in Supreme Court, the analyses provide information about 98% of the DV cases that resulted in criminal prosecution.

CASE OUTCOMES IN CRIMINAL COURT
Convictions include pleas of guilty and findings of guilty after trial. Dismissals include cases that were dismissed, as well as a handful of cases that went to trial and ended in acquittal. ACDs are adjournments in contemplation of dismissal. Although ACDs are not convictions, they sometimes have conditions attached (e.g., that the defendant successfully complete a program, such as a batterer intervention program and/or a drug or alcohol treatment program).

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES AND NON-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES
Cases are identified as Domestic Violence (DV) cases and Non-Domestic Violence (Non-DV) cases using the courts' definition of domestic violence, which is based on the nature of the relationship between the offender and the victim. DV cases are cases where the relationship between the offender and the victim meets the statutory definition of a family (cases where the victim and offender are married, formerly married, related by blood or marriage, or have a child in common) or the courts' definition of an intimate relationship (cases where the victim and defendant are cohabiting or previously lived together, including "common-law" marriages and same-sex relationships). Comparable Non-DV cases are those where the charges involved interpersonal violence (assault, criminal contempt [for violating an order of protection], harassment, crimes against children, burglary, larceny and weapons charges), but the relationship between the offender and the victim was not a family or intimate relationship as defined by the courts.

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