Local crime and early marriage: Evidence from India

This paper analyses whether living in a locality with high crime against women affects the probability of early marriage?that is, marriage before the legal age of marriage of girls. We hypothesize that parents who perceive themselves to live in a high-crime locality would marry their daughters off at an early age to protect the chastity of their daughters from any sexual violence. However, there would be no similar effect of perceived crime in the locality on the marriage of sons.