HOW POLICE DETERMINE THE DOMINANT AGGRESSOR IN DOMESTIC

VIOLENCE CASES IN CT

In deciding who to arrest as the dominant aggressor, police officers are required to consider several factors:

• The need to protect the victims of domestic violence
• Whether one person was acting in self-defense or defense of a third person (including a child)
• The relative injuries each party received
• Any threats of further physical injury
• The history of family violence between the parties

There are also several exceptions within the state’s mandatory arrest laws. Police are not required to arrest someone in cases of:

• Verbal abuse or arguments without physical assault or threatened violence
• Roommates who are not in a romantic relationship
• Juvenile delinquency
• Parents disciplining their children (that does not rise to the level of child abuse)

The Dominant Aggressor law doesn’t mean that dual arrests can’t happen, though they are far less common now. The mandatory arrest requirements only apply to the person the police officer identifies as the dominant aggressor. However, the officer may choose to arrest both parties if the circumstances justify it.