  We investigate the impact of judges' gender on the outcome of domestic
violence cases. Using data from S\~ao Paulo, Brazil, between 2010 and 2019, we
compare conviction rates by judge's gender and find that a domestic violence
case assigned to a female judge is 31\% (10 p.p.) more likely to result in
conviction than a case assigned to a male judge with similar career
characteristics. To show that this decision gap rises due to different gender
perspectives about domestic violence and not because female judges are stricter
than their male counterparts in all rulings, we compare it against the gender
conviction-rate gap in similar types of crime. We find that the gender
conviction-rate gap for domestic violence cases is significantly larger than
the same gap for other misdemeanor cases (3 p.p. larger) and for other physical
assault cases (8 p.p. larger). Furthermore, we find evidence that at least two
channels explain this gender conviction-rate gap for domestic violence cases:
gender-based differences in evidence interpretation and gender-based sentencing
criteria. Lastly, we find that this gender conviction rate has no significant
impact on the probability of appeals, ruling reversals or recidivism.
