Pro-arrest policy blurs the lines in domestic violence

Article here. Excerpt:

'While the traditional image of domestic violence is a man beating a woman, a review of arrest records shows that many women are being charged in connection with violence against their husbands or boyfriends.

At the Gainesville Police Department in recent years, arrests of women on domestic battery or assault charges have sometimes outpaced the arrests of men. In 2010, for instance, 38 women were arrested compared with 29 men. In 2012, 35 women were arrested and 33 men.

Meanwhile, more than 27 percent of those arrested by all law enforcement agencies in the county on domestic violence charges have been women over the past three years.

Why are so many women now being arrested?

Are women becoming more violent? Are police more willing to arrest women than they were in the past? Are men more willing to report domestic violence? Are abused women fighting back? Are men who abuse women calling police to claim that they were the victims in a game of one-upmanship?

Law enforcement, attorneys, victim advocates and counselors say all of the above play a role.'