Domestic violence is a major concern of the COVID-19 pandemic with empirical work reporting a growth in domestic violence across the globe during the pandemic. However, prior to the pandemic, conflict and post-conflict communities consistently experience high rates of domestic violence. Yet no work considers how living in a conflict or even post-conflict society may be exacerbating domestic violence, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this work does not consider whether individuals experiencing domestic violence in conflict and post conflict societies are more or less likely to report domestic violence to the police. This is important as often police forces are involved with perpetrating violence or have a history of perpetrating violence during conflicts. Accordingly, this paper compares three countries: The United States (no conflict), Guatemala (post conflict), and Ukraine (ongoing conflict) and discusses variations in self-reported domestic violence during the pandemic. It also considers whether there are variations in whether individuals were more or less likely to report such crimes to police.

Presenters: Laura Iesue, Anastasiia Timmer, Olga Lozovska