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This article examines changes in the frequency and characteristics of domestic violence reports following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the imposition of mobility restrictions in six Latin American countries. We find significantly different patterns between reports of psychological and physical violence, non-cohabitant and cohabitant violence, and across alternative reporting channels (domestic violence hotlines, emergency lines, and police reports). Calls to domestic violence hotlines soared, suggesting that this channel was best suited to respond to victims’ needs during the pandemic. In turn, calls to emergency lines and police complaints declined (especially in the first weeks of the pandemic), consistent with an increase in the perceived (relative) cost of using these channels. The results reveal how the pandemic altered domestic violence victims’ demand for institutional help and highlight the relevance of domestic violence hotlines as an accessible and valuable service.

Research Summary This paper studies the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown on criminal activity in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Following quarantine restrictions, we find a large, significant, robust, and immediate decline in property crime reported to official agencies, police arrests, and crime reported in victimization surveys. We observe no significant change in homicides, and a significant increase in arrests for “resistance to authorities”. The decrease in criminal activity was greater in business and transportation areas, but still large in commercial and residential areas (including informal settlements). After the sharp and immediate fall, crime recovered but, by the end of 2020, it had not reached its initial levels. The arrest data additionally shows a reduction in the distance from the detainee's address to the crime location, and a fall in the number of detainees from outside the City of Buenos Aires. Crime became more local as mobility was restricted. Policy Implications We find no evidence that the reduction in the number of detainees from outside the City of Buenos Aires led to a displacement of crimeto suburban areas. This result aligns with the hypothesis that focalized place‐based interventions have the potential to reduce overall crime rates. Moreover, the increase in arrests for "resistance to authorities" at the checkpoints set up during the lockdown shows that the enforcement of mobility restrictions can cause frictions between citizens and police, negatively affecting police's legitimacy. We also find that the increased government presence for the provision of health and social services in informal settlements during the pandemic led, as a positive externality, to an additional decrease in crime.

Family violence is a critical development challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), carrying high health, social, and economic costs and increasing the risk of perpetuating the cycle of violence across generations. Parenting programs have improved parenting practices in high-income countries. However, evidence for LMICs is sparse. This study evaluates an intervention to reduce coercive parenting implemented by the Ministry of National Security of Jamaica, which targeted caregivers of children aged 6 to 15 in vulnerable communities in the country. Treated caregivers were visited by a parental trainer for six months and invited to three sessions of a group training workshop during that period. We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the interventions impact. Using data from a follow-up survey completed six months after the intervention, we find robust evidence of reduced coercive parenting practices among treated caregivers compared to the control group. The improvement is due to a reduction in the reported likelihood of caregivers yelling and beating their children for misbehaving. The effect is greater for caregivers with higher pre-intervention levels of coercive parenting. The results provide evidence that parenting interventions can effectively reduce coercive parenting among caregivers of school-aged children in highly violent middle-income settings.

Trust in the police is key to the state’s legitimacy and social development. Despite its relevance, many countries still have significant challenges in generating such trust. This paper presents a conceptual framework and a survey instrument to measure public trust in the police and explore some potential determinants: procedural justice, perceived effectiveness, the convergence of values between citizens and the idea of police forces, and integrity. We piloted the instrument in five Colombian cities---which represent 15% of the population---to examine its validity, finding satisfactory results. The descriptive results suggest that public trust in the police is strongly associated with the perception of the application of fair procedures, the convergence of values, and, to a lesser extent, perceptions of the effectiveness and integrity of the police. We validate the relevance of procedural justice with a vignette experiment, which shows that fair treatment increases acceptance and satisfaction with police actions and fosters citizens’ willingness to collaborate with the police. This study provides a practical tool to measure public trust in the police and its possible determinants and thus guides public policy efforts to strengthen it.

Using an individual-level experiment with male and female caregivers of young children in El Salvador, we evaluate the impact of a free digital stress management and positive parenting intervention. We nd that, for males, the intervention increased stress and anxiety and lowered caregiver-child interactions. The effect on males is concentrated among the poorer and those residing with a partner. In contrast, womens mental health was not impacted. Yet, their use of physical violence toward children decreased by 18 percent. Our results align with theories linking economic deprivation and family structure to caregivers cognitive overload and mental health.

Researchers and policy makers face significant challenges in selecting a method to conduct remote surveys, especially when collecting sensitive information or during turbulent life stages of hard-to-reach groups. In the context of the COVID-19 lockdown, this study randomly selected about 600 adults in El Salvador to survey using two different tools: telephone interviews or a self-completion survey via WhatsApp. The findings show that phone-based surveys increase the rate of survey completion by 42 percentage points. Even larger effects are documented for women and older adults. Although the direct costs of phone-based surveys are substantially higher—doubling implementation cost—the estimates imply that when adjusted for the probability of completion, the costs of conducting phone-based surveys can be 25 percent lower.

Parenting practices are crucial for the development of children’s brains and social skills. However, parenting styles may be far from ideal, particularly those of caregivers with high stress levels. Using an individual-level experiment with male and female caregivers of young children in El Salvador, this paper evaluates the impact of a free digital stress management and positive parenting intervention. The results indicate that, for males, the intervention increased stress and anxiety and lowered caregiver-child interactions. The effect on males was concentrated among the poorer and those residing with a partner. In contrast, women’s mental health was not impacted. Yet, their use of physical violence toward children decreased by 18 percent. These results align with theories linking economic deprivation and family structure to caregivers’ cognitive overload and mental health.

Este artículo analiza el uso de recursos interdisciplinarios y la aplicación de medidas alternativas al proceso penal y a la privación de libertad en la justicia penal juvenil en seis jurisdicciones argentinas. Se desarrolla un análisis cuali-cuantitativo a partir de documentos institucionales y de entrevistas semiestructuradas con agentes del sistema. El estudio encuentra que, a pesar de que existe cierto consenso sobre los beneficios de desjudicializar la conflictividad sociopenal adolescente, el uso de medidas alternativas es generalmente bajo. La intervención interdisciplinaria en el trata-miento del delito adolescente también es un desafío. La falta de formación específica en enfoques restaurativos de los operadores del sistema penal juvenil, la persistencia de rasgos inquisitivos en el abordaje penal, las debilidades en la gestión y en la disponibilidad de información sistematizada y la ausencia de políticas, previsiones legales y protocolos efectivos son las condiciones más usuales que limitan la utilización de medidas alternativas. A pesar de estos obstáculos, el análisis destaca algunas buenas prácticas y experiencias en la implementación de medidas alternativas al proceso penal y propone una serie de recomendaciones para promover su fortalecimiento y expansión.

Parenting practices are crucial for the development of children’s brains and social skills. However, parenting styles may be far from ideal, particularly those of caregivers with high stress levels. Using an individual-level experiment with male and female caregivers of young children in El Salvador, this paper evaluates the impact of a free digital stress management and positive parenting intervention. The results indicate that, for males, the intervention increased stress and anxiety and lowered caregiver-child interactions. The effect on males was concentrated among the poorer and those residing with a partner. In contrast, women’s mental health was not impacted. Yet, their use of physical violence toward children decreased by 18 percent. These results align with theories linking economic deprivation and family structure to caregivers’ cognitive overload and mental health.

This technical note examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime and law enforcement dynamics in Colombia. The analysis uses administrative data on police reports and arrests for different types of offenses. It applies a “difference-in-differences” model, comparing the number of reports and arrests during the quarantine against their pre-quarantine trend. The results show a marked decline in homicides, motor vehicle theft, and other theft types in the initial weeks of the quarantine. The strong initial declines attenuated over time. The results reveal differences in crime dynamics between different regions of the country. The analysis also shows how COVID-19 modified police activity: arrests for offenses such as homicide and robbery decreased, and arrests due to threats to public health increased. This article contributes to a growing number of studies on the pandemic’s social impact and provides data and tools to inform citizen security and criminal justice policies.

This article examines changes in the frequency and characteristics of domestic violence reports after the start of the pandemic and the imposition of mobility restrictions in six Latin American countries. The study uses three types of data sources: calls to domestic violence hotlines (for the City of Buenos Aires in Argentina, Colombia, and Peru); calls to emergency lines (for Ecuador, Lima in Peru, and Costa Rica); and police/legal complaints (for Colombia, Ecuador, and Uruguay). Data through June 2020 shows that the pandemic's impact on domestic violence reports varied significantly across countries, periods, types of violence, and reporting channels. Calls to domestic violence hotlines soared, but calls to emergency lines and police complaints fell (especially in the first weeks of the pandemic). Significantly distinct patterns are observed between reports of psychological and physical violence, and non-cohabitant and cohabitant violence. These patterns are consistent with the pandemic changing the relative incidence of different types of violence and altering the perceived costs of reporting them through alternative channels. Increases in calls to domestic violence hotlines suggest that this channel was best suited to respond to victims' needs during the pandemic. In turn, the drop in legal complaints and calls to comprehensive emergency lines are consistent with an increase in the perceived (relative) cost of using these channels. The findings reveal how the pandemic altered domestic violence victims' demand for institutional help and highlight the relevance of domestic violence hotlines as an accessible and valuable service.

This paper studies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown on criminal activity in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. We find a large, significant, robust, and immediate decline in crime following quarantine restrictions. We observe the effect on property crime reported to official agencies, police arrests, and crime reported in victimization surveys, but not in homicides. The decrease in criminal activity was greater in business and transportation areas, but still large in commercial and residential areas (including informal settlements). After the sharp and immediate fall, crime recovered but, as of November 2020, it did not reach its initial levels. The arrest data additionally allow us to measure the distance from the detainees address to the crime location. Crime became more local as mobility was restricted.