@article{ref1,
title="Sanctions for intimate partner sexual violence: is the law on the books the law in action?",
journal="Journal of interpersonal violence",
year="2020",
author="Bielen, Samantha and Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina and Grajzl, Peter",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) is common, yet in many jurisdictions the law still does not adequately recognize it. In those jurisdictions that have formally  criminalized IPSV, little is known about the extent to which IPSV-related law on the  books is implemented in practice. Especially scarce is systematic quantitative  evidence on the processing of IPSV cases by the justice system. We investigate  unique case-level court data on the processing and sanctioning of violent sex crime  cases in Belgium, a jurisdiction where the law adequately criminalizes IPSV, but  where criminal judges are afforded broad sentencing discretion. Our data allow us to  observe both the conviction and the sentencing decision. Consequently, we are able  to address the endogenous sample selection concerns that arise in the assessment of  IPSV-related sentencing disparities by estimating a full-fledged sample selection  model. Upon inclusion of a broad range of defendant, victim, and other case  controls, we show that defendants who are the victims' spouses or partners receive  statistically significantly shorter prison sentences than defendants who are  unrelated to the victims, in the sense that they are neither the victims' current or  former spouses nor family. The documented extralegal disparity is quantitatively  noteworthy and survives a series of robustness checks as well as alternative model  specifications. Our analysis thus lends empirical credibility to the perspective  that while national legislatures have often been slow to address IPSV, the justice  systems may be even slower at internalizing the corresponding law. Our  evidence-based insight into de facto legal responses to IPSV is of direct relevance  to many jurisdictions globally.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0886-2605",
doi="10.1177/0886260520985487",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0886260520985487"
}