IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v239y2024ics0047272724001798.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Specialised courts and the reporting of intimate partner violence: Evidence from Spain

Author

Listed:
  • García-Hombrados, Jorge
  • Martínez-Matute, Marta
  • Villa, Carmen

Abstract

This paper assesses the effect of the creation of specialised intimate partner violence (IPV) courts on the reporting of IPV, and the incidence of IPV homicides in Spain. We find that the opening of a specialised IPV court increases the reporting of IPV by nearly 122 offences per 100,000 inhabitants, or 28% in the preferred specification. The rise in reporting is primarily driven by an increase in the reporting of moderate offences. We do not find conclusive evidence on the effects of specialised courts on IPV homicides.

Suggested Citation

  • García-Hombrados, Jorge & Martínez-Matute, Marta & Villa, Carmen, 2024. "Specialised courts and the reporting of intimate partner violence: Evidence from Spain," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:239:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724001798
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105243
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724001798
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105243?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Machin & Matteo Sandi, 2020. "Autonomous Schools and Strategic Pupil Exclusion," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(625), pages 125-159.
    2. Pinotti, Paolo & Bhalotra, Sonia & Britto, Diogo & Sampaio, Breno, 2021. "Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence," CEPR Discussion Papers 16350, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Ana Tur-Prats, 2019. "Family Types and Intimate Partner Violence: A Historical Perspective," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(5), pages 878-891, December.
    4. Dmitry Arkhangelsky & Susan Athey & David A. Hirshberg & Guido W. Imbens & Stefan Wager, 2021. "Synthetic Difference-in-Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(12), pages 4088-4118, December.
    5. Scott Cunningham & Manisha Shah, 2018. "Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(3), pages 1683-1715.
    6. Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Paolo Pinotti, 2015. "Legal Status and the Criminal Activity of Immigrants," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 175-206, April.
    7. Bilge Erten & Pinar Keskin, 2024. "Trade-offs? The Impact of WTO Accession on Intimate Partner Violence in Cambodia," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(2), pages 322-333, March.
    8. David H. Autor, 2003. "Outsourcing at Will: The Contribution of Unjust Dismissal Doctrine to the Growth of Employment Outsourcing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-42, January.
    9. Dan Anderberg & Helmut Rainer & Jonathan Wadsworth & Tanya Wilson, 2016. "Unemployment and Domestic Violence: Theory and Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(597), pages 1947-1979, November.
    10. Kirill Borusyak & Xavier Jaravel & Jann Spiess, 2024. "Revisiting Event-Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(6), pages 3253-3285.
    11. Meredith Fowlie & Michael Greenstone & Catherine Wolfram, 2018. "Do Energy Efficiency Investments Deliver? Evidence from the Weatherization Assistance Program," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1597-1644.
    12. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    13. Decio Coviello & Andrea Ichino & Nicola Persico, 2014. "Time Allocation and Task Juggling," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 609-623, February.
    14. Scott E. Carrell & Mark Hoekstra, 2012. "Family Business or Social Problem? The Cost of Unreported Domestic Violence," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 861-875, September.
    15. Sofia Amaral & Sonia Bhalotra & Nishith Prakash, 2019. "Gender, Crime and Punishment: Evidence from Women Police Stations in India," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-309, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    16. César Alonso-Borrego & Raquel Carrasco, 2023. "Intimate partner violence and women’s health: the private and social burden," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(47), pages 5591-5611, October.
    17. Lakshmi Iyer & Anandi Mani & Prachi Mishra & Petia Topalova, 2012. "The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 165-193, October.
    18. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    19. Farmer, Amy & Tiefenthaler, Jill, 1996. "Domestic Violence: The Value of Services as Signals," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 274-279, May.
    20. Ariella Kahn-Lang & Kevin Lang, 2020. "The Promise and Pitfalls of Differences-in-Differences: Reflections on 16 and Pregnant and Other Applications," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 613-620, July.
    21. Sviatschi,Maria Micaela & Trako,Iva, 2021. "Gender Violence, Enforcement, and Human Capital : Evidence from Women's Justice Centers in Peru," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9624, The World Bank.
    22. Aizer, Anna & Dal B, Pedro, 2009. "Love, hate and murder: Commitment devices in violent relationships," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3-4), pages 412-428, April.
    23. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    24. Iyengar, Radha, 2009. "Does the certainty of arrest reduce domestic violence? Evidence from mandatory and recommended arrest laws," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 85-98, February.
    25. Erten, Bilge & Keskin, Pinar, 2021. "Female employment and intimate partner violence: Evidence from Syrian Refugee inflows to Turkey," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    26. Jennifer L. Doleac, 2023. "Encouraging Desistance from Crime," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(2), pages 383-427, June.
    27. Joseph,George & Javaid,Syed Usman & Andres,Luis Alberto & Chellaraj,Gnanaraj & Solotaroff,Jennifer & Rajan,Sebastian Irudaya, 2017. "Underreporting of gender-based violence in Kerala, India : an application of the list randomization method," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8044, The World Bank.
    28. A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353.
    29. Bilge Erten & Pinar Keskin, 2018. "For Better or for Worse?: Education and the Prevalence of Domestic Violence in Turkey," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 64-105, January.
    30. Nuno Garoupa & Natalia Jorgensen & Pablo Vázquez, 2008. "Assessing the Argument for Specialized Courts: Evidence from Family Courts in Spain," Working Papers 2008-16, FEDEA.
    31. Anna Aizer, 2011. "Poverty, Violence, and Health: The Impact of Domestic Violence During Pregnancy on Newborn Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(3), pages 518-538.
    32. Giuliana Palumbo & Giulia Giupponi & Luca Nunziata & Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti, 2013. "Judicial Performance and its Determinants: A Cross-Country Perspective," OECD Economic Policy Papers 5, OECD Publishing.
    33. Chin, Yoo-Mi & Cunningham, Scott, 2019. "Revisiting the effect of warrantless domestic violence arrest laws on intimate partner homicides," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    34. Tur-Prats, Ana, 2021. "Unemployment and intimate partner violence: A Cultural approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 27-49.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bergvall, Sanna, 2024. "Women’s economic empowerment and intimate partner violence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    2. Calabresi, Elisabetta & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2025. "Female Empowerment and Intimate Partner Violence," IZA Discussion Papers 18207, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Elisabetta Calabresi & Núria Rodríguez-Planas, 2025. "Female empowerment and intimate partner violence," Working Papers 2025/14, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    4. Dan Anderberg & Line Hjorth Andersen & N. Meltem Daysal & Mette Ejrnæs, 2025. "Parental leave and intimate partner violence," IFS Working Papers W25/43, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    5. Dan Anderberg & Line Hjorth Andersen & N.Meltem Daysal & Mette Ejrnaes, 2025. "Parental Leave and Intimate Partner Violence," CEBI working paper series 25-12, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    6. Dan Anderberg & Line Hjorth Andersen & N. Meltem Daysal & Mette Ejrnæs, 2025. "Parental Leave and Intimate Partner Violence," CESifo Working Paper Series 12189, CESifo.
    7. Perrotta Berlin, Maria & Campa, Pamela & Paltseva, Elena & Krumina, Marija & Pluta, Anna & Shpak, Solomiya, 2022. "Domestic violence legislation - Awareness and support in Latvia, Russia and Ukraine," SITE Working Paper Series 58, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics.
    8. Carolina Arteaga & Gustavo J. Bobonis & Paola Salardi & Dario Toman, 2025. "Improving Judicial Protection in Intimate Partner Violence Cases: The Role of Specialized Courts and Judges," Working Papers tecipa-803, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elisabetta Calabresi & Núria Rodríguez-Planas, 2025. "Female empowerment and intimate partner violence," Working Papers 2025/14, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    2. Calabresi, Elisabetta & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2025. "Female Empowerment and Intimate Partner Violence," IZA Discussion Papers 18207, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Bergvall, Sanna, 2024. "Women’s economic empowerment and intimate partner violence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    4. Bhuller, Manudeep & Dahl, Gordon B. & Løken, Katrine V. & Mogstad, Magne, 2022. "Domestic Violence and the Mental Health and Well-being of Victims and Their Children," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 21/2022, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    5. Black, Dan A. & Grogger, Jeffrey & Kirchmaier, Tom & Sanders, Koen, 2023. "Criminal charges, risk assessment and violent recidivism in cases of domestic abuse," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121374, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Sofia Amaral & Gordon B. Dahl & Victoria Endl-Geyer & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2023. "Deterrence or Backlash? Arrests and the Dynamics of Domestic Violence," NBER Working Papers 30855, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Sofia Amaral & Sonia Bhalotra & Nishith Prakash, 2019. "Gender, Crime and Punishment: Evidence from Women Police Stations in India," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-309, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    8. Colagrossi, Marco & Deiana, Claudio & Dragone, Davide & Geraci, Andrea & Giua, Ludovica & Iori, Elisa, 2023. "Intimate partner violence and help-seeking: The role of femicide news," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Semih Tumen & Hakan Ulucan, 2024. "Empowered or impoverished: the impact of panic buttons on domestic violence," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1423-1459, December.
    10. Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Popova, Olga, 2024. "Natural Disasters and Acceptance of Intimate Partner Violence: The Global Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 17172, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. García-Ramos, Aixa, 2021. "Divorce laws and intimate partner violence: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Denti, Daria & Iammarino, Simona, 2022. "Coming Out of the Woods. Do local support services influence the propensity to report sexual violence?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 334-352.
    13. Sviatschi, Maria Micaela & Trako, Iva, 2024. "Gender violence, enforcement, and human capital: Evidence from women’s justice centers in Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Linchi Hsu & Alexander Henke, 2024. "Unemployment insurance generosity and intimate partner violence," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1461-1481, December.
    15. Yinjunjie Zhang & Robert Breunig, 2023. "Female breadwinning and domestic abuse: evidence from Australia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2925-2965, October.
    16. Sonia Bhalotra & Uma Kambhampati & Samantha Rawlings & Zahra Siddique, 2021. "Intimate Partner Violence: The Influence of Job Opportunities for Men and Women," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 35(2), pages 461-479.
    17. Sofia Amaral, 2015. "Do Improved Property Rights Decrease Violence Against Women in India?," Discussion Papers 15-10, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    18. Pinotti, Paolo & Bhalotra, Sonia & Britto, Diogo & Sampaio, Breno, 2021. "Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence," CEPR Discussion Papers 16350, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Selim Gulesci & Marinella Leone & Sameen Zafar, 2024. "Domestic Violence Laws and Social Norms: Evidence from Pakistan," Trinity Economics Papers tep0324, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    20. Koppa, Vijetha, 2024. "Can information save lives? Effect of a victim-focused police intervention on intimate partner homicides," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 756-782.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • K38 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Human Rights Law; Gender Law; Animal Rights Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:239:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724001798. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.