A three-day arts intervention reduced police delays in registering gender-based violence complaints in India's Bihar state by 41%, a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper published in November 2026 found.
The authors found that changes in officers' attitudes carried into their handling of complaints and their workplace relationships. Their paper is titled “Debiasing Law Enforcement Officers: Evidence from an Expressive Arts Intervention in India.”
Sofia Amaral, Girija Borker, Nishith Prakash and María Micaela Sviatschi conducted the research in partnership with Bihar Police. The authors described the force as operating with comparatively severe constraints on its policing capacity.
The study randomly assigned groups across 417 police stations, covering roughly 2,500 senior officers on active field duty, the authors said. It tested whether an arts intervention could change how serving officers responded to gender-based violence.
The three-day intervention drew on the Theatre of the Oppressed, an approach to expressive arts. The researchers examined officers' attitudes and legal knowledge, tested their responses to victims and used administrative records to track complaint registration.
About seven months after the initial assessment, officers who received the intervention showed more favorable attitudes toward victims of gender-based violence, the authors found. They also showed greater empathy and stronger knowledge of the law.
In standardized tests of officers' responses to victims conducted one year later, officers at participating stations were 15 percentage points less likely to blame victims. The authors also found that those officers dismissed fewer complaints and provided more referrals.
Administrative records showed shorter registration delays and, over a longer period, more citizens reporting gender-based violence, the authors found. The supplied findings did not specify the length of that period or quantify the increase in reporting.
The researchers also examined whether changes followed trained officers when they moved to other stations. Using differences arising from officer transfers, they found suggestive evidence that the effects persisted after relocation and spread to colleagues who had not received the intervention.
That finding carries a qualification: the authors described the evidence on persistence and effects on colleagues as suggestive. They also found workplace benefits, with junior female officers reporting less harassment and anxiety when working alongside senior officers who received the intervention.
The authors concluded that serving officials' attitudes can change and that changing how they use their authority can improve public services and workplace conditions. Their findings address how officers exercise discretion over citizens' access to services.
The research received support from institutions including the World Bank, Princeton University and the ifo Institute. The authors said their views do not necessarily reflect those of their partners or the National Bureau of Economic Research.
