Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

While all forms of domestic violence can be uniquely traumatizing, incidents resulting in serious injury can lead to lasting physical, mental, and financial outcomes for the victim. Hence, it is surprising that no one has considered the effects of policy intervention on domestic violence incidents specifically involving serious injury. This panel study uses NIBRS data to evaluate the effects of state medical marijuana legalization and decriminalization on serious domestic assaults, finding that decriminalization leads to a substantial decrease in victim injury.