Perceptions of Police Response to Domestic Violence in Puerto Rico: Law 54 and Human Rights
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Perceptions of Police Response to Domestic Violence in Puerto Rico: Law 54 and Human Rights Catherine K. Medina 1
&
Jessica M. Becker 2 & Lirio K. Negroni 3
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract This article addresses perceptions of police response to domestic violence against women in Puerto Rico after police reforms in 2013. Puerto Rico has high rates of fatalities due to domestic violence and police practices preventing fatalities are found to be lacking. Authors address the intersection of domestic violence against women and the systemic failings of Puerto Rican law enforcement and resistance to handling of domestic violence incidents as required by law. The findings of an exploratory, qualitative pilot study with key stakeholders working with women survivors of domestic violence in Puerto Rico are presented. Using a human rights perspective, the study participants note an association between police response to domestic violence and machismo, patriarchy, and colonialism. Keywords Domestic violence . Police response . Human rights . CEDAW . Law 54 . Machismo
In 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the government of Puerto Rico agreed to sweeping reforms to the island’s police department. Puerto Rican law enforcement had faced intense scrutiny over the past several years culminating in a report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that highlighted the Puerto Rican Police Department (PRPD)’s widespread abuses and violations of civil rights against poor people, black Puerto Ricans, and Dominican immigrants (American Civil Liberties Union 2012, 2015). The DOJ Civil Rights Division issued an earlier report based on a 3-year investigation that described the PRPD as systematically corrupt and needing to overcome a history of
* Catherine K. Medina [email protected] Jessica M. Becker [email protected] Lirio K. Negroni [email protected] 1
Puerto Rican and Latin@ Studies Project, University of Connecticut, 38 Prospect Street, Hartford, CT 06103-2814, USA
2
University of Connecticut, 38 Prospect Street, Hartford, CT 06103-2814, USA
3
Department of Social Work, Marieb College of Health & Human Services, Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd S, Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA
discrimination and violence (United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division 2011). The DOJ found that the PRPD lacked established policies and procedures regarding lawful policing practices and that existing operational structures were inconsistent and arbitrary. This report addresses officers routinely conducting illegal searches and seizures without warrants, attacking nonviolent protesters and journalists; discriminating against Dominicans, gay, and transgendered people; and failing to appropriately handle sexual assault and domestic violence cases (Savage and Alvarez 2012; United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division 2011). The United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (2011) uncovered evidence that the PRPD frequently failed to police sex crimes and inc
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