Policy Interventions for Domestic Violence Prevention and Support: Evaluating Impacts and Implementation

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This panel examines how policy interventions can be used to address intimate partner violence through a variety of methodological approaches. More specifically, the panel explores how unemployment benefits, paid leave policies, teen dating laws and housing programs can support survivors of domestic abuse and potentially reduce violence.

The first paper utilizes a natural experiment to investigate how decreasing unemployment insurance payments influence crime rates and examines the impact benefit reductions on intimate partner violence. The second paper analyzes teen dating violence laws across 38 US states. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes difference-in-differences analysis and qualitative methods, this paper examines how variations in policy implementation across states translate to meaningful outcomes in schools and teen dating violence.

The next paper investigates state-level leave policies for IPV survivors, and how these leave policies can help to protect the employment status of domestic violence survivors. The paper finds that paid leave employment policies correlate with an increase in survivors seeking out advocacy and assistance from domestic violence organizations as well as increasing the utilization of temporary housing services. The final paper evaluates Wisconsin's Domestic Violence Housing First Pilot Program, a policy implementation that prioritizes finding stable housing for domestic violence survivors before addressing other concerns. In particular, this study examines how mitigating immediate housing needs impact survivors' economic outcomes, including employment stability, income, and financial independence.

In combination, these four projects help to demonstrate the complex relationship between intimate partner violence and policy.  This panel will help to identify best practices for enhancing policy effectiveness and emphasize the importance of comprehensive approaches that address both immediate safety concerns and long-term economic stability for survivors of intimate partner violence.

Policy Area

• Family and Child Policy

Secondary Policy Area

• Social Equity and Race

Chair

• Lisa Gennetian, Duke University

Discussants

• Lisa Gennetian, Duke University

• Alvin Christian, University of Michigan

Organizer

• Mariel Barnes, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Individual Presentations

• Restricting Unemployment Insurance Increases Crime: Evidence from the American Rescue Plan - Presenting Author: Rebecca Hsu, Howard University

• Effectiveness and implementation of state laws for addressing teen dating violence in schools - Presenting Author: Avanti Adhia, University of Washington

• IPV and Paid Leave Policies: Impact on State-level Services - Presenting Author: Kathryn K Showalter, University of Kentucky

• Housing as Economic Empowerment: the Economic Impact of Wisconsin’s Domestic Violence Housing First Pilot Program - Presenting Author: Mariel Barnes, University of Wisconsin-Madison