Heavy drinking and the disposition of intimate partner violence cases in French courts
Résumé
In 2000, heavy drinking was associated with an increased risk of being tried for IPV and with drinking before the act. Heavy drinkers were more likely to have committed all forms of aggression, but only verbal aggression was significant. In 2000, judges gave heavy drinkers harsher sentences, and a 2007 law sanctioned them even more severely. These results suggest that treatment that focuses on problem drinking could be a helpful response in countering IPV. This may be more effective than using harsher sentences. Being tried for IPV was significantly more likely if the perpetrator had inflicted an injury, engaged in prior aggression, and was a heavy drinker. Heavy drinkers were less likely to be under 40 years old, more likely to be French, part of a stable couple, and to have engaged in various types of prior aggression. The study examined all cases of IPV processed in the years 1999-2000 by a major court of the Paris metropolitan area. Data were collected on 223 perpetrators (all 166 tried perpetrators and 10 percent of the 570 perpetrators whose cases were dismissed), as well as how cases were handled institutionally. Logistic regression was used to identify perpetrator characteristics significantly associated with being tried compared with being dismissed and being a heavy drinker.