University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, Knoxville, TN, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 Apr;36(7-8):NP4170-NP4190. doi: 10.1177/0886260518787206. Epub 2018 Jul 9.
For decades, states have passed legislation to mandate reporting of criminal conduct and the abuse of vulnerable persons. Four types of mandatory reporting laws have been enacted, including laws that require reports of injuries associated with crime or due to use of certain weapons, abuse of children, abuse of vulnerable adults, and reporting of domestic violence. While studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of mandatory reporting laws in domestic violence cases, methodological weaknesses in this body of literature make it difficult to make broad statements about whether mandatory reporting laws advance women's protection or actually place them at additional risk. This study's sample is based on 388 surveys administered in-person to women who had sought services from one of Kentucky's 15 regional domestic violence shelters. In addition to querying women regarding their own experience with mandatory reporting laws, the survey explored the factors that influenced women's views. The study advances research into women's decisions to access shelters, medical, or mental health services and how they are influenced by advance knowledge that their case would be reported if they disclosed abuse. A new and troubling finding was that almost two in five women reported they would have been less likely to contact a domestic violence shelter if they knew in advance that a mandatory report would be made. Future research on mandatory reporting is needed with an eye toward changing state policies and laws to ensure that women feel free to seek the type of assistance they need for themselves and their children.
几十年来，各州已经通过立法，强制报告犯罪行为和虐待弱势群体的行为。已经颁布了四种类型的强制性报告法律，包括要求报告与犯罪或使用某些武器有关的伤害、虐待儿童、虐待弱势成年人以及报告家庭暴力的法律。虽然已经进行了研究，以评估强制性报告法律在家庭暴力案件中的有效性，但该文献的方法学缺陷使得难以就强制性报告法律是否促进妇女保护或实际上使她们面临更大的风险做出广泛的陈述。本研究的样本基于对在肯塔基州 15 个地区家庭暴力避难所之一寻求服务的 388 名妇女进行的 388 次个人调查。除了询问妇女有关她们自己在强制性报告法律方面的经验外，该调查还探讨了影响妇女观点的因素。该研究推进了对妇女决定寻求庇护所、医疗或心理健康服务的研究，以及她们如何受到事先了解到如果披露虐待行为将报告案件的影响。一个新的令人不安的发现是，近五分之二的妇女报告说，如果事先知道将进行强制性报告，她们更不可能联系家庭暴力庇护所。需要对强制性报告进行未来研究，着眼于改变州政策和法律，以确保妇女能够自由地为自己和子女寻求所需的帮助。
