Suspension of Criminal Proceedings for Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Impact on Re-Entries

Paulo Vieira-Pinto; José Ignacio Muñoz-Barús; Tiago Taveira-Gomes; Maria João Vidal-Alves; Teresa Magalhães

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.725081

Suspension of Criminal Proceedings for Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Impact on Re-Entries

Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 29:12:725081. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.725081. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Paulo Vieira-Pinto^{1

2}, José Ignacio Muñoz-Barús¹, Tiago Taveira-Gomes^{2

3

4

5}, Maria João Vidal-Alves^{2

3}, Teresa Magalhães^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Forensic Sciences, Pathology, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Paediatrics, Institute of Forensic Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
² IINFACTS - Institute of Research and Advanced Training in Health Sciences, Department of Sciences, CESPU, University Institute of Health Sciences (IUCS), Gandra, Portugal.
³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
⁴ CINTESIS - Centre of Health Technology and Service Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
⁵ Faculty of Health Sciences, Fernando Pessoa University, Porto, Portugal.

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the most prevalent crimes in our society, but the legal mechanisms to oppose it are recent. The Portuguese Provisional Suspension of Criminal Proceedings (PSCP) as a criminal justice system (CJS) response proposes an integrated consensual solution with the involved parties, to reduce offenders' recidivism. This article analyses the effect of PSCP on re-entries into the CJS. We examined 1,662 IPV police reports, exploring cases that underwent PSCP and re-entries of the same offender in the CJS. Results show that PSCP is applied in 17% of the cases. From all analyzed determinants, with a possible relation to the PSCP implementation, it was found that social violence and the age of both victims and defendants emerge as significantly associated with the request or acceptance of this legal mechanism. No variables tested moderated the relationship between PSCP and re-entry over 96months following the first police report. The article also examined variables that might moderate the decision to request this legal mechanism among victims and defendants.

Keywords: criminal justice system; integrated consensual solution; intimate partner violence; provisional suspension of criminal proceedings; reduce offender recidivism.