Overview

• Background & Policy Context: Following criminal justice initiatives since the 1990s and the Domestic Violence, Crimes and Victims Act 2004, police policy in the UK has increasingly emphasized pro-arrest approaches, positive action, and identifying primary aggressors to prevent inappropriate dual arrests.

• Methodology: The research tracked three comparative samples totaling 96 cases (126 individual perpetrators) across a 6-year period:

  • 32 Sole Female Perpetrators

  • 32 Sole Male Perpetrators

  • 32 Dual Perpetrator Cases (where both male and female partners were recorded as perpetrators across separate incidents)

Key Findings:

• Incident Frequency & Repeat Perpetration: Men were significantly more likely to be repeat perpetrators, accounting for up to 52 incidents in a single case. 83% of male perpetrators had two or more recorded incidents, whereas 62% of female perpetrators had only one recorded incident.

• Nature of Abuse: Male perpetrators were significantly more likely to use physical violence (61% vs 37%), threats (29% vs 13%), and harassment (29% vs 11%), creating an ongoing context of fear and coercive control. Female perpetrators were more likely to use weapons (24% vs 11%), often defensibly or to stop further violence from partners.

• Arrests & Legal Outcomes: Women were arrested disproportionately relative to their number of incidents—arrested once every 3 incidents (32%), compared to men who were arrested once every 10 incidents (11%). However, men were more likely to be charged or cautioned (25% vs 8%).

• Trends: The data showed a slight increase over time in the proportion of women recorded (8% to 12%) and arrested (9% to 11%) as domestic violence perpetrators, echoing similar but more pronounced trends observed in the US following mandatory arrest policies.

Key Recommendations

• Primary Aggressor Identification: Police officers must be trained and guided to accurately identify the primary aggressor in domestic violence incidents involving counter-allegations or dual reporting, ensuring victims using self-defense or violent resistance are not misidentified as primary perpetrators.

• Context-Sensitive Risk Assessment: Criminal justice agencies should evaluate domestic abuse as a pattern of coercive control over time rather than as isolated incidents, taking full account of severity, impact, and fear dynamics when assessing risk.

• Proportional System Response: Police recording practices and arrest protocols should address the disproportionate arrest rate of female perpetrators relative to their fewer incidents and defensive contexts.

• Inter-Agency Support Alignment: Support services and health agencies must collaborate closely with police, particularly where substance misuse, mental health, or child protection issues intersect with domestic abuse incidents.