Estimating the Deterrent Effect of Incarceration Using Sentencing Enhancements

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Abrams, David S.
• 署名单位: University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.4.4.32
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 32-56
• 关键词: crime rates; incapacitation; perceptions; PUNISHMENT; DISCRETION

摘要

Increasing criminal sanctions may reduce crime through two primary mechanisms: deterrence and incapacitation. Disentangling their effects is crucial for optimal policy setting. I use sentence enhancements due to the introduction of state add-on gun laws to isolate the deterrent effect of incarceration. Using cross-state variation in the timing of law passage dates, I find that the average add-on gun law results in a roughly 5 percent decline in gun robberies within the first 3 years. This result is robust to a number of specification tests and does not appear to be associated with large spillovers to other types of crime. (JEL K14, K42)