Essays In The Economics Of Crime And Punishment PDF Download

In the first chapter of my dissertation, I study the effects of time in prison and time on parole on recidivism. The empirical challenge is that both time in prison and time on parole are subject to omitted variable bias. Relying on two instrumental variables that provide independent variation in both sentence length and time served in prison, I do not find evidence that parole time affects recidivism. However, I find that one month in prison decreases the probability of repeat offending by 1.12 percentage points. In addition, I explore the interaction between the sentencing authority (judges) and the prison release authority (parole boards) in determining punishment in the criminal justice system. In the second chapter of my dissertation, Kegon Teng Kok Tan and I study the relative importance of prison composition (peer effects within a facility) and various prison characteristics (programs offered, type of accommodation, etc.). We draw data on almost 80,000 individuals serving time in the Georgia Department of Correction System between 1995 and 2005. Using only within-prison variation, we find evidence of peer effects for violent, property, and drug possession offenders. We also find that the presence of educational or counseling programs plays a role in reducing drug-related recidivism rates; other prison characteristics seem to play a smaller role and are less precisely estimated. The third chapter of my dissertation contributes to the understanding of criminals' decision making by building on Becker's (1968) seminal work. In my model, I allow darkness and clock time to influence crime levels by affecting the suitability and accessibility of potential victims. I test the predictions of the model by examining the link between crime rates and daylight using the discontinuity in daytime sunlight along the strips of counties adjacent to the ET/CT time zone line in the state of Tennessee. Controlling for various county and day specific characteristics, I find that crossing the time zone line from east to west inflates crime rates for offenses such as car theft and burglary, and has no effect on crimes that are less likely to be opportunity-driven, such as embezzlement and fraud.