Hands Up at Home: Militarized Masculinity and Police Officers Who Commit Intimate Partner Abuse

Intimate partner abuse by police officers is a systemic, structural issue created and fueled by the ways in which police officers are socialized and trained. Police officers are more likely than others to abuse their partners, and as a result of their training and their state imprimatur, police abuse of partners is more problematic and potentially more dangerous than abuse by civilians. This article examines the violence and abuse perpetrated by police against their intimate partners and asks whether criminalization can succeed as a policy when police officers are disproportionately committing intimate partner abuse.