Abstract
While domestic violence has emerged as a global concern since the 1970s, empirical research on public preferences for police response to domestic violence is lacking. Even rarer is investigating the issue from an international, comparative perspective. Using survey data collected from more than one thousand college students in two Chinese and two U.S. cities, this study compared Chinese and American citizens' attitudes toward traditional and proactive police response to domestic violence and tested the effects of demographic characteristics, attitudes toward violence and gender roles, personal experiences with domestic violence, and locality on such attitudes. Chinese students were found to be more likely than American students to favor traditional response and less likely to support proactive response. Chinese and American students' attitudes toward police response to domestic violence were influenced by both different and common factors. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 81-99 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice |
Volume | 39 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Chinese police
- Comparative study
- Domestic violence
- Perceptions of police
- Police response
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
- Political Science and International Relations
- Law