Sexual Harassment in Public Spaces and Police Patrols: Experimental Evidence from Urban India
Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2025 · Sofia Amaral、Girija Borker、Nathan Fiala、Anjani Kumar、Nishith Prakash、María Micaela Sviatschi
中文摘要
我们开展了一项随机对照试验，以评估一项创新警察巡逻计划对印度海得拉巴公共空间中性骚扰的影响。我们与海得拉巴市警察局合作，在350个热点地区部署身着制服和便衣的警员，对警察巡逻的曝光度以及警员的可见性进行随机分配。为评估其效果，我们实施了一项新颖的高频观察调查，以衡量这些热点地区的性骚扰情况：调查员实时记录观察到的所有性骚扰事件以及女性的应对反应。我们发现，尽管警察巡逻对街头骚扰总体上没有影响，但身着制服的警察巡逻使严重形式的骚扰（强行触摸、恐吓）减少了27%，并降低了女性因性骚扰而离开热点地区的可能性。我们揭示了其内在机制，发现警察的可见性以及警员对性骚扰的态度，都是理解性骚扰发生率的关键因素。
Abstract
Abstract We conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effect of an innovative police patrol program on sexual harassment in public spaces in Hyderabad, India. In collaboration with the Hyderabad City Police, we randomize exposure to police patrols and the visibility of officers by deploying both uniformed and undercover officers across 350 hot spots. To assess the effect, we implement a novel, high-frequency observation exercise to measure sexual harassment at these hot spots, where enumerators recorded all observed instances of sexual harassment and women’s responses in real time. We find that although police patrols had no effect on overall street harassment, uniformed police patrols reduced severe forms of harassment (forceful touching, intimidation) by 27% and reduced the likelihood of women leaving the hot spot due to sexual harassment. We uncovered the underlying mechanisms and found that both police visibility and officers’ attitudes toward sexual harassment are key to understanding its incidence.