Crime, Punishment, and Prevention: The Effect of a Legal Reform on Violence Against Women

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of a legal reform aimed at curbing domestic violence against women in Brazil. The law increased its punishment, created specialized criminal justice measures and institutions, and provided social assistance for families at risk. We exploit the availability of data on homicides caused by aggression in the household to deal with the measurement errors problems usually associated with gender violence reports. We find that the law reduced female homicides due to household aggression by 9 percent. The effects were stronger for less educated and black women, those more likely to have low intra-household bargaining power.