Intimate Partner Violence, Police Engagement, and Perceived Helpfulness of the Legal System: Between- and Within-Group Analyses by Women's Race and Ethnicity

Objective: Disparate research findings suggest a need for more attention to intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors' experiences when reporting to police. To help address inequities and advance our understanding of racial/ethnic minoritized survivors' experiences with the U.S. legal system, we use critical race theory to investigate the association between survivors' race/ethnicity and police engagement and the degree of between- and within-group variability of survivors' perceived helpfulness of the legal system. Method: Survey data were collected from survivors accessing social services in Arizona. Data from two independent studies were collected (2012-2014, 2016-2018), and samples (Study 1: N=660; Study 2: N=377) were analyzed comparatively. We used regression models to examine each full sample and race-stratified samples. Results: We found different patterns of legal-system engagement across racial/ethnic groups, though severe IPV victimization was consistently associated with engagement. Some survivors of color reported higher perceived helpfulness of the legal system than white survivors. Indicators of perceived helpfulness included criminal conviction of the offender. Conclusions: This study is one of the first to examine between- and within-racial/ethnic-group differences in perceived helpfulness of the legal system among IPV survivors. Additional research is needed to understand how best to serve IPV survivors during a time of legal-system reform.