Domestic Violence and Poverty Appear

Domestic violence and poverty appear to be linked, as the majority of convicted domestic violence offenders come from lower socio-economic groups.

Does the fact that the majority of convicted domestic violence offenders come from lower socio-economic groups mean that poverty increases the rate of domestic violence?

The rate of domestic violence offenses does not vary with income, but people with lower incomes are more likely to be convicted after committing those offenses.

Independent concepts: Income

Dependent concepts:

Rate of domestic violence offenses, conviction rates for those offenses.

Propositions:

As income decreases, the number of domestic violence offenses will remain constant.

Independent variable: income

Dependent variable: number of offenses

As income increases, domestic violence offenders are less likely to be convicted of domestic violence offenses.

Independent variable: income

Dependent variable: conviction rate

Research Methodology: Because there may be disparity based on economic status in arrest records and other formal reporting mechanisms, determining the incidence of domestic violence will be done by examining 911 phone calls made in a county that has a fair representation of persons from all socioeconomic groups over a six-month period of time. Each 911 call reporting an assault by a family member or member of the household will be considered a domestic violence incident. Income will be determined by looking at the tax records for the individuals listed as the tenant or owner of the location identified in the 911-telephone call. The phone calls will be tracked, and the researcher will determine how many of those phone calls end up in a conviction. Because domestic violence offenders can frequently plead-down, any conviction stemming from the alleged family violence incident will be considered a domestic violence conviction for the purposes of the study.

After collecting six months worth of initial phone calls, and tracking the resolution of those calls through the legal system, the researcher will correlate the number of calls attributable to each member of a socioeconomic group with income to determine whether domestic violence varies with income. After making that determination, the researcher will then correlate the number of calls with the conviction rate to determine whether conviction rates vary inversely with income.