Trust and Public Institutions: Reporting of Gender-based Violence in Guatemala.

(With David Dow and Livia Schubiger). Working paper.

Recommended citation: Gender-based violence remains one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time, and accountability for these crimes remains weak. Gender-based violence is also starkly under-reported. Possible reasons for under-reporting include social norms, psychological costs, and a lack of trust in, as well as limited access to, relevant institutions. How can the issue of under-reporting be addressed? We investigate whether the expansion of specific offices and agencies belonging to the Ministerio Público (General Attorney's office) increased the reporting of gender-based violence in Guatemala. These recently expanded institutions are comparatively well-trusted points of access for reporting crimes, and thus enable us to study the impact of policy efforts to mitigate under-reporting, one of the enduring challenges for prosecuting gender-based violence.