Dialogic Reverberations: Police, Domestic Abuse, and the Discontinuance of Cases

Susan J. Lea; Nick Lynn

doi:10.1177/0886260512441075

Dialogic Reverberations: Police, Domestic Abuse, and the Discontinuance of Cases

Susan J. Lea, Nick Lynn

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study investigated the social construction of domestic abuse by police officers, specifically in the context of arguments presented to the prosecutor for a decision on whether to proceed with or discontinue the case. Nineteen police files were examined with a particular focus on the MG3, the "Report to Crown Prosecutors for Charging Decision." Access to such sensitive material is usually denied to researchers; therefore, this study offers unusual insights into the treatment of victims and perpetrators of interpersonal violence by the police. Discourse analysis revealed three dominant speech genres: impartiality, credibility, and the "real" victim. These genres separately and in interaction served to construct domestic abuse cases in ways that did not support the victim's account. The "dialogic reverberations" of these findings are discussed and the implications of the work for research and practice are considered.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3091-3114
Number of pages	24
Journal	JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE
Volume	27
Issue number	15
Early online date	22 May 2012
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260512441075
Publication status	Published - Oct 2012

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Dialogic Reverberations: Police, Domestic Abuse, and the Discontinuance of Cases

Abstract

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