Police-reported intimate partner violence: Using qualitative data to quantify severity

Background The main objective of this study was to examine the association between offense charges against the perpetrator and victim narratives in police-reported intimate partner violence (IPV) incidents in Dallas, Texas. Methods IPV incidents in 2004 were selected in which the male perpetrator was a non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black or Hispanic resident of Dallas (N=4508). Offense charges were prioritized in descending order: sexual assault, aggravated assault, simple assault, kidnapping, robbery, and intimidation. ATLAS.ti 6 was used to systematically classify textual data from the victim narratives, based on the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS), then categorized in descending order of priority: sexual (severe, minor), physical (severe, minor), and psychological (severe, minor) assault. Offense and CTS categories were also modified to test the ‘interrater agreement'. Results Most incidents involved hands/feet as weapons, either minor or no injury, and simple assault charges. Little agreement (kappa =.17) emerged between modified offense and CTS categories. The greatest disparity occurred among simple assault cases (n=3613); 64% were categorized as severe physical assault per the CTS. One-half of offenses not recorded (n=234) involved severe physical, 24% minor physical, and 16% severe psychological assault. The majority (90%) of aggravated assault charges (n=319), however, were coded as severe physical, 74% of intimidation charges (n=290) were coded severe psychological; and 88% of sexual assault charges (n=40) were confirmed with the CTS coding. Conclusions Police data are an important source for IPV surveillance, but it is critical to include an analysis of victim narratives to better elucidate the severity of IPV events.