Wilson Virgilio Hernandez

Background

Wilson Virgilio Hernández Breña is Peruvian. His professional and research work has focused on violence, crime, public safety, gender, corruption, and access to justice, with particular attention to Peru and other Latin American contexts.

Education

Hernández studied economics at the University of Lima from 1996 to 2001. He completed master's studies in Social Management at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and earned a master's degree in Comparative Development Studies from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris between 2009 and 2011. He later pursued doctoral studies in Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, completing the program in 2026.

Career

Hernández began his professional research career in Peru, working on public policy, justice, violence, and crime-related studies. He was associated with the University of Lima as an economist and researcher and subsequently joined the Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE), where he worked as a consultant on security and violence against women in 2019 and became an adjunct researcher in the same year. At GRADE, his work has included impact evaluations of policing, violence-prevention programs, gender-based violence interventions, justice systems, and public-safety policies. From 2022 to 2026, he pursued doctoral research in Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, studying policing, place-based crime prevention, drug markets, urban interventions, intimate-partner violence, and the effects of emergency policies on crime and well-being.

Achievements

• Conducted experimental and quasi-experimental research on policing, place-based crime prevention, gender-based violence, justice, and public safety in Peru and the United States.

• Developed and contributed to impact evaluations of police responses to violence against women, hotspot policing, urban-cleaning interventions, adolescent curfews, emergency policies, and soccer-based gender-violence prevention programs.

• Completed a Ph.D. in Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2026.

Works

• book

  • ¿Cuánto le cuesta la justicia a las mujeres? Costos económicos y no económicos del acceso a la justicia en procesos de alimentos y de violación sexual en Apurímac y Cajamarca

    (Study of the economic and non-economic costs faced by wom...)

    2012

  • Indicadores sobre administración de justicia

    (Book on indicators of the administration of justice, publ...)

    2003

  • Violencia contra las Mujeres. La necesidad de un doble plural

    (Book addressing violence against women and the need for d...)

    2019

  • Carga y descarga procesal en el Poder Judicial 1996–2005

    (Study of procedural workload in Peru's judiciary, publish...)

    2005

  • Género en el Perú: Nuevos enfoques, miradas interdisciplinarias

    (Edited volume addressing gender in Peru through interdisc...)

    2018

• book chapter

  • Additive and synergistic perceived risk of crime: A multilevel longitudinal study in Peru

    (Book chapter presenting a multilevel longitudinal study o...)

    2017

  • Delincuencia común y seguridad ciudadana en el Perú: Políticas de prevención y control

    (Chapter examining common crime and citizen security in Pe...)

    2016

• conference paper

  • Impacto social de la violencia familiar en la mujer y sus hijos

    (Conference paper on the social effects of family violence...)

    2016

• journal article

  • The Effects of Street Cleaning on Serious Crime and Gun Violence in Philadelphia, 2023–2024: A Stratified Randomized Controlled Trial

    (Co-authored study in the American Journal of Public Healt...)

    2026

  • Justicia y Espacio Social: ¿Justicia de Ciudadanos o Justicia de Técnicos?

    (Study of justice and social space, examining the relation...)

    2015

  • La información y la toma de decisiones en la política pública judicial: una reflexión a partir del análisis de la carga procesal en el Perú

    (Analysis of information and decision-making in judicial p...)

    2009

  • Do criminal justice reforms reduce crime and perceived risk of crime? A quasi-experimental approach in Peru

    (Quasi-experimental study of the effects of criminal-justi...)

    2019
  • Feminicidio (agregado) en el Perú y su relación con variables macrosociales

    (Research on aggregate femicide in Peru and its relationsh...)

    2015
  • Teorías y evidencias del “dilema urbano” en el Perú

    (Research examining theories and evidence concerning the u...)

    2016

  • Lo que sabemos del feminicidio. ¿Qué lo causa?

    (Review of explanations and evidence concerning the causes...)

    2016

  • No una, sino varias formas de ser víctima: Patrones de victimización en relaciones de pareja

    (Study of patterns of victimization in intimate-partner re...)

    2019

  • Derecho Versus Sentido Común y Estereotipos

    (Analysis of the tension between law, common sense, and st...)

    2015

• report

  • Violencia contra las mujeres en relaciones de pareja: Patrones de victimización y tipología de agresores

    (Research report on victimization patterns and aggressor t...)

    2019

  • Feminicidio: Determinantes y evaluación del riesgo

    (Report on the determinants of femicide and the assessment...)

    2017

• working paper

  • Costos sociales de la victimización en América Latina: Percepción de inseguridad, capital social y percepción de la democracia

    (Research on the social costs of victimization in Latin Am...)

    2018

Interests

• Cycling and soccer.

Connections

Hernández is married to Sayuri Bayona Matsuda, a Peruvian public official who served as Vice Minister of Foreign Trade. Their relationship was documented in Peruvian public contracting and conflict-of-interest proceedings.

Wife:

Sayuri Bayona Matsuda

Peruvian public official who served as Vice Minister of Foreign Trade.

References

• University of Pennsylvania Department of Criminology profile Institutional profile documenting Hernández's doctoral degree in Criminology and his affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania.
  2026
• GRADE researcher profile Institutional biography describing Hernández's education, research interests, and role as an adjunct researcher.
• CONCYTEC researcher directory Researcher directory record documenting Hernández's nationality, education, employment, research projects, publications, and fellowships.
• Wilson Hernández academic website Academic website presenting Hernández's education, research agenda, doctoral fellowships, projects, working papers, and professional contact information.
  2025