Coming out of the woods. Do local support services influence the propensity to report sexual violence?

Denti, Daria and Iammarino, Simona ORCID: 0000-0001-9450-1700 (2022) Coming out of the woods. Do local support services influence the propensity to report sexual violence? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 193. 334 - 352. ISSN 0167-2681

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Abstract

Sexual crimes against women are severely underreported to the police, allowing for impunity of perpetrators. Observers suggest that a stimulus towards reporting the crime comes from nearby support services for victims of sexual offences - like refuges and advisors. Still, the evidence about the effects of nearby support on the reporting of sexual crimes remains scattered and mainly qualitative. This paper provides quantitative evidence on this effect, by exploiting the uneven geography of local support services which resulted in the UK after the introduction of the austerity program. Findings highlight a positive net effect of the provision of local support services on the victims’ propensity to report. The positive effect holds also in the aftermath of a space-neutral high-impact media campaign empowering women to report sexual violence. This evidence relates to relevant policy implications, given that in some countries the austerity-driven cuts to public budgets have reduced and dispersed the local availability of support services, making digital support and/or helpline the only available options in many places.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-e...
Additional Information:	© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
Divisions:	Geography & Environment
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	H - Public Economics > H7 - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations > H75 - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I12 - Health Production: Nutrition, Mortality, Morbidity, Suicide, Substance Abuse and Addiction, Disability, and Economic Behavior I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J7 - Labor Discrimination > J78 - Public Policy
Date Deposited:	22 Nov 2021 10:54
Last Modified:	07 Apr 2024 19:48
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/112710

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