Public salience mobilizes nationwide responses to violence against women

Abstract

Does public salience around femicides mobilize societal responses or trigger further harm through imitation? Using newly assembled case-level data on femicides in Italy from 2017 to 2024, we study the nationwide consequences of the most salient cases for help-seeking, police reporting, and lethal violence. We find that highly salient intimate partner femicides (IPFs) generate nationwide increases in help-seeking, and that an exceptionally salient IPF also leads to a marked rise in police reports of violence against women. Yet we find no evidence of an increase in femicides-a pattern inconsistent with copycat theories. Responses are strongest during periods of peak salience. No comparable mobilization follows a lower-salience IPF, a similarly salient femicide committed by family members, a highly salient killing of a woman not classified as a femicide, or a lower-salience falsification case. Together, these comparisons indicate that mobilization depends on salience intensity, the victim-perpetrator relationship, and the gendered nature of the violence, rather than reflecting a generic response to salient violent crime. These findings suggest that public salience can contribute to prevention strategies against gender-based violence without amplifying lethal violence.