Debiasing Law Enforcement Officers: Evidence from an Expressive Arts Intervention in India
Preventing gender-based violence (GBV) and addressing institutional service delivery of GBV in weak states is an essential component of ensuring gender equality, freedom from violence, encouraging women’s mobility, entry into the labour market, human capital accumulation, and ensuring safety and access to justice for women and girls. Addressing gender biases in institutional service-delivery is a major policy challenge. Despite its policy relevance, we know little on how to address the issue and its effects on men and women in the workplace, and among those interacting with service providers. In this project, the Global Action for Policy (GAP), with support from Abdul Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Fund for Innovation in Development (FID), and the Development for Impact Group (DIME) of the World Bank, partnered with the Bihar Police to address these gaps by studying the role of male police officers in the workplace and in terms of policing quality in addressing GBV.
The intervention covered 419 police stations across 12 districts – representing 37% of the state’s police stations and serving approximately 42 million residents (40% of Bihar’s population). The program employed immersive and experiential learning techniques, departing from traditional training methods to address the challenges of officer disengagement and low motivation in standard training formats.
Figure 1: Activity and discussion-based sessions comprised the core of the training intervention
The intervention consisted of a 21-hour curriculum delivered over three days, with batch limited to 25 officers to ensure optimal learning outcomes. Treatment was randomly assigned at the police station level: 217 stations received the training for all male officers at the Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) and Sub- Inspector (SI) ranks, while 202 stations served as the control group. In terms of officers, 1676 officers were assigned to the control group, while 1850 officers were in the treatment group. The program achieved strong participation, with an 82% attendance rate among eligible officers, who completed an average of two and a half days of training. Implementation was strategically staggered across districts to ensure smooth delivery and maintain operational police capacity.
Early results show a positive and significant effect (0.19 SDs) in improving overall skills related to handling of GBV cases. Disaggregated results reveal significant gains in technical skills (0.17 SDs) which involve a measure of understanding what are the correct laws and procedures to follow in regards with cases related to GBV. The intervention improved soft skills in handling GBV cases (0.17 SDs), which involve discriminatory behaviour and broader attitudes towards GBV. Furthermore, the training had a small but meaningful impact (0.09 SDs) in fostering empathy and self-awareness among officers who attended the sessions.
From a qualitative perspective, the unique learning techniques employed in the training sessions appear to have resonated with many of the officers who participated in the sessions. “There is a lot under our control too. We are the first step to justice. Together, we can make a change,” remarked an officer after a training session in the district of Motihari. “This training should not be for 3 days, but should be extended for an entire week!” exclaimed another attendee, showering praise on the efforts of the theatre-trained facilitators who guided them through the sessions and led the learning process.
Interest in the early results from the stakeholders in Bihar Police prompted the research team to organise a workshop in Patna, Bihar on 14th December, 2024 titled ‘Tackling Gender-based Violence: Bihar at the Frontier.’ Attended by a diverse audience of policymakers, academics, and development practitioners, the event disseminated the early results and facilitated an earnest conversation regarding GBV, and the various steps taken by the Bihar state government to address this issue, which ranks high on its list of priorities.
The panelists and guests at the event had several valuable contributions.
Sunil Kumar, the Honourable Education Minister of Bihar, emphasised the critical role of timely investigations by the police and urged police officials to ensure thoroughness in cases of GBV. Prashant Shahi, the Honourable Advocate General of Bihar, lauded judicial progress in swift trial resolutions and victim compensation, but stressed the need for collective responsibility to address GBV, particularly within families and communities.
“It was encouraging to see evidence of how specific interventions can have significant impacts! Broad structural changes and small policy adjustments can happen simultaneously, leading to more holistic outcomes,” remarked Rahul Singh, Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
Figure 2: Clockwise from top left: Dr. Nishith Prakash, Co-director, GAP, and Lead Researcher; Sunil Kumar, Education Minister, Government of Bihar; Prashant Kumar Shahi, Advocate General, Government of Bihar; Vinay Kumar, Director General of Police, Bihar Police
The workshop was widely covered in the English and vernacular media, including Indian Express, Press Trust of India, and ABP Bihar.
The research team behind the project is now analysing the effect of the intervention on new measures of interactions between senior male officers and junior female officers, and spouses of male officers. A decoy survey was also conducted in selected police stations to assess the effectiveness of the intervention in a business-as-usual environment. In the next steps, the team looks forward to presenting the results from these additional activities, in addition to the main results.