Public Opinion on Lethal Violence against Women in Mexico

Abstract

While structural factors help explain the supply of impunity for the murder of women in Latin America, we know less about how much citizens demand stronger responses to cases of lethal violence against women (VAW). What social norms prevail for punishing lethal VAW? What do citizens expect of the state's response? We investigate these questions in Mexico, using a conjoint experiment embedded in a national survey. We causally estimate the degree to which citizens have egalitarian or discriminatory views regarding the deservingness of justice for homicide victims who are women (vs. men). We find a mismatch between the judiciary’s shortcomings regarding VAW and public opinion: citizens expect and prefer harsher penalties for lethal VAW. Further, we find a discrepancy between preferences and expectations: the public supports stronger punishment for women’s murders, but perceives high impunity, and women on average expect a larger difference between their preferences and expectations than men.