Female Arrests for Abuse Rise

Re “A New Side to Domestic Violence,” April 27:

I was pleased to see The Times bringing to our attention the fact that in Los Angeles the arrests of women for domestic violence have more than doubled in the past five years. Scientific studies would suggest that the reported figure of 14.3% of domestic violence perpetrated by women is a gross underestimate of the actual situation. Clearly, women are much more likely than men to bring to the attention of the authorities the facts of their physical abuse. However, it appears to many researchers, and myself, that abused men are reluctant to publicly discuss or officially report the fact that they were assaulted.

Three large-scale national surveys conducted in 1975, 1985 and 1992 have found that women are as likely as men to be physically aggressive in marital relationships. In addition, a recent review of 21 studies of dating violence indicates that women express physical violence at higher rates than men. A number of respected researchers have concluded that the trend appears to be that male assaults are decreasing while female assaultive behavior is increasing. In my own research, which surveyed more than 900 college women, I have found that approximately 29% have admitted to initiating physical assaults on their male partners within the past five years.

MARTIN S. FIEBERT PhD

Professor of Psychology

Cal State Long Beach

* If the role of the abuser is to control, its counterpart is to submit; keep the peace. Women seek to keep the home front intact, regardless of peril, because they don’t want to be alone. More arrests of abusive men would be made if women had the courage to do so, and this red herring of “increased female arrests” would align itself properly.

MARY A. BYRD

Los Angeles