The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment
By Lawrence W. Sherman and Richard A. Berk
Under a grant from the National Institute of Justice, the Minneapolis Police Department and the Police Foundation
conducted an experiment from early 1981 to mid-1982 testing police responses to domestic violence. A technical
report of the experiment can be found in the April 1984 issue of the American Sociological Review. This report
summarizes the results and implications of the experiment. It also shows how the experiment was designed and
conducted so the reader may understand and judge the findings.
Findings in Brief
The Minneapolis domestic
violence experiment was the first
scientifically controlled test of
the effects of arrest for any
crime. It found that arrest was
the most effective of three
standard methods police use to
reduce domestic violence. The
other police methods—
attempting to counsel both
parties or sending assailants
away from home for several......
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