Police as an Interpretative Community in the Policies of Combating Violence Against Women

Abstract

The focus of this study is on the challenges that police encounter while combating violence against women, serving as the implementing entity with roles and responsibilities defined by Law Number 6284, also known as 'The Law on the Protection of the Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women,' and other relevant legislation. Rather than delving into detailed legislative discussions, this article treats the legal context and legislation as political documents. The concept of 'frame conflicts,' a term within interpretative policy analysis, has been employed to explore issues such as the meanings police attribute to the problem in practice, how they implement the policy within the framework of their defined roles, and the difficulties they encounter in this process. While combating domestic violence and violence against women, the practices developed by the police in their professional socialization process and the meanings constructed through these practices provide a 'mapping architecture of interpretation and meaning,' regarding the implementation process of the policy as referred in the interpretative perspective, especially concerning the police. It is believed that this type of analysis will fill an important gap in the literature. A sequential explanatory mixed method has been employed in this study. In this regard, exploratory quantitative research was conducted to define the problem. Qualitative research, built upon the problem areas/themes identified through the findings from the quantitative research, was completed by following the constructivist research process defined by grounded theory.