Perpetrators of intimate partner violence and mandatory reporting laws: The perspectives and experiences of perpetrators who seek help voluntarily compared with those of victims of intimate partner violence

This quantitative study explored perspectives on and experiences with mandatory reporting of intimate partner violence among individuals who have perpetrated IPV, and compared them with victims. Forty-one perpetrators and eighty-six victims were recruited from support services offering voluntary help for IPV. Among perpetrators, 58.5% had received information about mandatory reporting, but only 19.5% reported that they understood the law. Another 43.9% knew the law to some extent, and 36.6% did not know the law. There were no differences between victims and perpetrators regarding knowledge or having received information about mandatory reporting. The findings suggest that although many perpetrators and victims receive information about the law, understanding remains limited, indicating a need for improved information-sharing practices. Few (17.5%) perpetrators had personal experience with mandatory reporting being used. Compared to victims, fewer perpetrators reported such experiences, and the difference remained significant even after controlling for severity of violence and other factors. This may indicate that mandatory reporting is applied differently for victims and perpetrators, raising questions about whether characteristics of the violence are consistently used as criteria when assessing mandatory reporting applicability. Perpetrators varied in their attitudes toward the law, but a small majority were positive. There were no differences between victims and perpetrators in attitudes.

Read the article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14773708251365065