Gustavo Bobonis, University of Toronto

We study the impacts of the large-scale implementation of a system of specialized domestic violence courts (SDVC’s), an innovation in access to justice programs for potential victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and offenders. Using individual level administrative data from the universe of civil domestic violence cases in Puerto Rico during the period of 2014-2021, we leverage the staggered opening of SDVCs leads to a considerable 8 percentage points increase in the probability that judges issue judicial protection via a protection order and a 1.7 percentage point (15 percent) decrease in victim and offender reappearance rates within one year of the start of the case. Effects are more pronounced for cases in which parties have children in common and in which access to SDVCs is more limited. Linking the case data to administrative and survey data on judges handling these cases, we show that the judges assigned to SDVC’s play a prominent role in explaining these outcomes.

DATE: Friday, April 18, 2025

TIME: 3:30-5:00 p.m. LOCATION:

Fronczak 444