The rule of law at time of masculine honor: Afghan police attitudes and intimate partner violence

Abstract

This paper examines how attitudes toward violence against women (VAW)—in terms of justification—influence the behavioral intentions of Afghan police officers when dealing with a case of intimate partner violence (IPV). An experimental study was carried out with 108 Afghan police officers who took part in a training course at the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A) bases in Herat and Kandahar. Participants read an extract of a police intervention for an IPV case. They were faced with honor-related attitudes and possible actions to be taken to help victims and arrest perpetrators. In the experimental condition, in the questionnaire provided to police officers, there was reference to the victim admitting to an affair with another man. No such reference was present in the control condition. Results showed that admitting an infidelity produced more lenient attitudes toward the violence against the woman, which in turn reduced police officers’ intention to intervene by arresting the man and providing support to the victim. Results are discussed in terms of the role and function of the so-called culture of (masculine) honor and the rule of law and its implications.