Rural Domestic Violence

Professor Sara Benson, fellow LawProf blogger, and currently visiting assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, has posted to SSRN a draft of her article: "Failure to Arrest: A Pilot Study of Police Response to Domestic Violence in Rural Illinois."  The article is explores the issue through focus-groups of survivors.  Professor Benson notes  that "it is important to consider law enforcement response to domestic violence calls because police officers often serve as the gateway to the legal community through first-response action."  The article "points out the disparity between law and action in rural Illinois as detailed by the survivor narratives."  The article then proposes a method of strengthening police responses to domestic violence calls in rural areas. bgf

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