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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Premkumar, Deepak (Public Policy Institute of California); Lofstrom, Magnus (Public Policy Institute of California); Hayes, Joseph (Public Policy Institute of California); Martin, Brandon (Public Policy Institute of California); Cremin, Sean (Public Policy Institute of California) |
| Abstract: | Racial disparities within the criminal justice system continue to be a pressing issue in the U.S. In this paper, we analyze data for almost four million stops by California's fifteen largest law enforcement agencies in 2019, examining the extent to which people of color experience searches, enforcement, intrusiveness, and use of force differently from white people. Black Californians are more likely to be searched than white Californians, but searches of Black civilians reveal less contraband and evidence. Black people are overrepresented in stops not leading to enforcement as well as in stops leading to an arrest. While differences in location and context for the stop significantly contribute to racial disparities, notable inequities remain after accounting for such factors. These disparities are concentrated in traffic stops. A notable proportion of which lead to no enforcement or discovery—suggesting that gains in efficiency and equity are possible. Through a "veil of darkness" analysis, we find evidence that racial bias may be a contributing factor to disparities in traffic stops for Black and Latino drivers. These findings suggest that traffic stops for non-moving violations deserve consideration for alternative enforcement strategies. |
| Keywords: | policing, racial disparities, racial bias, stops, searches, enforcement |
| JEL: | J15 K42 K14 H41 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17729 |
| By: | Machin, Stephen; Sandi, Matteo |
| Abstract: | Research studying connections between crime and education is a prominent aspect of the big increase of publication and research interest in the economics of crime field. This work demonstrates a crime reducing impact of education, which can be interpreted as causal through leveraging research designs (e.g., based on education policy changes) that ensure the direction of causality flows from education to crime. A significant body of research also explores in detail, and in various directions, the means by which education has a crime reducing impact. This includes evidence on incapacitation versus productivity raising aspects of education, and on the quality of schooling at different stages of education, ranging from early age interventions, through primary and secondary schooling and policy changes that alter school dropout age. From this evidence base, there are education policies that have been effective crime prevention tools in many settings around the world. |
| Keywords: | crime; education |
| JEL: | K42 |
| Date: | 2024–10–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126801 |
| By: | Monea, Nino C. |
| Abstract: | Every state has a Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) body responsible for credentialling law enforcement, and usually, decertifying them for misconduct. Oregon and Kansas are outliers in that they share disciplinary decisions online. This Article examines 400 decisions from the two states—every decision available as far back as records go through the end of 2022—to analyze how these agencies operate in practice. It finds that, much like other police oversight bodies, these POSTs often fail to hold officers to account or act transparently. Even so, state POSTs have an important role to play in protecting the public and maintaining high standards, and policy recommendations are made based on the review of these cases. Among them: greater transparency, better data collection, and strengthening POSTs. |
| Date: | 2023–11–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:39nxk_v1 |
| By: | Tomic, Slobodan; David-Barrett, Elizabeth |
| Abstract: | The chapter explores the domestic legal design of Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) procedures, analysing individual forms of MLA such as extradition of suspects or convicts, takeover or surrender of prosecution, and execution of foreign judgments. The analysis compares legislation from three countries in Southeast Europe: Serbia, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It examines whether two key components of legal design, namely (i) the discretion granted to institutions within the criminal justice system and political establishment and (ii) the presence of checks and balances systems within MLA procedures, have a positive or negative impact on MLA policy in practice. The analysis reveals that, although the three countries share many similarities in their legal arrangements pertaining to MLA procedures, there are some variations in specific forms of MLA, in terms of the discretion granted to domestic actors and the presence of checks and balances within the procedure. The findings show that significant discretion given to specific actors within the MLA policy can pave the way for harmful practices such as arbitrariness, uneven application of the law, and potential political abuse. The study also highlights the value of incorporating built-in checks and balances within the MLA procedure to ensure accountability and mutual control mechanisms, confirming that, where such mechanisms are not present, appropriate accountability and control safeguards are missing, enabling potential abuse of power or neglect in handling the MLA procedure. At the same time, it emerges that these checks and balances, whether they include internal review mechanisms, joint decision-making models, and/or approval powers ('de facto vetoing'), should not be excessive or burdensome to avoid obstructing the MLA processes. |
| Date: | 2023–09–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:5zfmg_v1 |
| By: | Adam Lavecchia; Philip Oreopoulos; Noah Spencer |
| Abstract: | This paper presents estimates of the causal effect of a comprehensive support program for low-income high school students on crime. The program, called Pathways to Education, bundles a number of supports including regular coaching, tutoring, group activities, free public transportation tickets and bursaries for postsecondary education. Our empirical strategy uses administrative data on high school enrollment linked to administrative court records and a difference-in-differences methodology that compares the evolution of crime outcomes of students living in the public housing communities where Pathways operates to similar public housing students who are ineligible for the program. We find that eligibility for Pathways reduces the likelihood of being charged with a crime at its Regent Park location by 6 percentage points (33 percent of the pre-treatment mean) and has no statistically significant effect at its Rexdale and Lawrence Heights locations. Our results suggest that the reductions in criminal activity are driven by the reduction of property crimes. |
| Keywords: | low-income youth, education and crime, youth programs |
| JEL: | I24 I26 I28 L31 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11676 |
| By: | Arandjelović, Ognjen |
| Abstract: | Incarceration remains the foremost form of sentence for serious crimes in Western democracies. At the same time, the management of prisons and of the prison population has become a major real-world challenge, with growing concerns about overcrowding, the offenders' well-being, and the failure of achieving the distal desideratum of reduced criminality, all of which have a moral dimension. In no small part motivated by these practical problems, the focus of the present article is on the ethical framework which we use in thinking about and administering criminal justice. I start with an analysis of imprisonment and its permissibility as a punitive tool of justice. In particular, I present a novel argument against punitive imprisonment, showing it to fall short in meeting two key criteria of just punishment, namely (i) that the appropriate individual is being punished, and (ii) that the punishment can be adequately moderated to reflect the seriousness of the crime. The principles I argue for and which the aforementioned analysis brings to the fore, rooted in the sentient experience, firstly of victims, and not only of victims but also of the offenders as well as the society at large, then lead me to elucidate the broader framework of jurisprudence which I then apply more widely. Hence, while rejecting punitive imprisonment, I use its identified shortcomings to argue for the reinstitution of forms of punishment which are, incongruently, presently not seen as permissible, such as corporal punishment and punishments dismissed on the basis of being seen as humiliating. I also present a novel view of capital punishment which, in contradiction to its name, I reject for punitive aims, but which I argue is permissible on compassionate grounds. |
| Date: | 2023–05–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:fkrb3_v1 |
| By: | Woodcock, Ramsi |
| Abstract: | The emerging law and political economy movement (LPE) in the United States has mistakenly conflated the conservative law and economics movement of the mid-20th century with law and economics generally. As a result, LPE has failed to draw upon a rich tradition of left-wing law and economic thought that predates the conservative law and economics movement and would provide LPE with powerful analytic tools. Law and economics is not inherently conservative. Indeed, progressives themselves created the field a century ago. The centerpiece of this early work consisted of two key points about the neoclassical approach to economics. The first was that policymakers can structure markets efficiently to produce any distribution of wealth that they desire. In contemporary parlance, law determines the market. The second was that even if a policymaker is constrained to accept a particular market structure, every market generates a surplus that policymakers can in principle redistribute through price regulation or taxation without harming efficiency. In mistakenly rejecting law and economics as enemy propaganda, LPE has found itself fighting old battles or unable to make intellectual headway in new ones. The movement has treated as a major new discovery the now century-old proposition that law determines the market. Unaware of the proposition’s history, LPE has also failed to grasp that conservative law and economics long ago accepted that proposition and parried by arguing that the market also determines the law. This has prevented LPE from offering a rejoinder—a glaring omission given the role this counterattack played in the demise of the New Deal state. Lacking the concept of economic surplus that left-wing law and economics spent so much time developing a century ago, LPE has also found itself unable to appreciate the great variety of the sources of economic power. LPE has instead tended to attribute all economic power to monopoly, leading to a focus on antitrust policy when taxation and rate regulation are more likely to achieve progressive goals. |
| Date: | 2023–03–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:twbrk_v1 |
| By: | Bosio, Erica |
| Abstract: | Courts around the world are often perceived to be ineffective in the delivery of justice. The resolution of cases takes too long, costs too much, and is biased in favor of the rich and politically connected. These stylized facts motivate judicial reform. With the benefit of a quarter century of empirical research, this paper finds that judicial reform is successful in improving court effectiveness when it coincides with or is motivated by periods of extraordinary politics. The paper studies the four most discussed ingredients of judicial effectiveness – independence, access, efficiency, and quality – and finds that transformative judicial reform is most likely to succeed in countries emerging from conflict and violence or those that are pursuing accession to regional or international groups. Absent such conditions, reformers are better off focusing on the adoption of procedural rules that increase the effectiveness of the existing judicial system. The survey highlights procedural reforms that deliver better outcomes. |
| Date: | 2023–06–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10501 |
| By: | Naufal, George S (Texas A&M University); Patterson, Bethany (Texas A&M University); Danser, Renee (Harvard Law School); Greiner, D. James (Harvard Law School) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of defense counsel at first appearance (CAFA) on criminal justice outcomes using randomized control trials in two Texas counties. The study evaluates the influence of CAFA on bond amounts, pretrial release, conditions, and post-magistration outcomes such as recidivism and failure to appear. Results show that while CAFA reduces bond amounts and influences bond types in one jurisdiction, its effects on pretrial release and recidivism are limited. These findings highlight jurisdictional differences and suggest that CAFA's impact may be more modest than previous studies indicate, underscoring the need for further research in this area. |
| Keywords: | first appearance, RCT, bail, pretrial release |
| JEL: | C93 J08 K4 K14 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17712 |
| By: | Nolwenn Loisel (EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Benjamin Monnery (EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | In addition to criminal sanctions issued by courts, the concrete conditions of execution of prison sentences have major implications for dignity and equality. This article studies and quantifies the diversity of prison conditions in the 187 French facilities registered on 1st May 2023, based on a new database aggregating key characteristics of each prison. This study also shows that convictions for inhumane conditions, issued by administrative courts and the European Court of Human Rights, are well explained and predicted by these observable characteristics. |
| Abstract: | Au-delà des peines prononcées par les tribunaux, un enjeu important en matière de dignité et d'égalité concerne les conditions concrètes dans lesquelles sont exécutées les peines d'emprisonnement. Cet article étudie et quantifie la diversité des conditions de détention dans les 187 établissements pénitentiaires français recensés au 1er mai 2023, en s'appuyant sur une nouvelle base de données rassemblant les caractéristiques clés de chaque prison. Cette étude montre également que les condamnations pour conditions indignes, décidées par les tribunaux administratifs et la Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme, sont assez bien expliquées et prédites par ces caractéristiques observables. |
| Keywords: | prison conditions; criminal justice |
| Date: | 2025–02–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04954013 |
| By: | Dourado, Ana Paula; Müller, Jessica; Rangel, Leidson; Spengel, Christoph |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the legal consequences and assesses the economic impact of the differing tax treatment of investment funds in Portugal, Germany, and Luxembourg before and after the Allianzgi-Fonds case decision. Before the Allianzgi-Fonds case decision the Portuguese investment taxation discriminated against foreign investments by levying a withholding tax compared to domestic ones. As a result of the Allianzgi- Fonds landmark case, our paper examines whether the Portuguese CIT-exemption extended to non-resident UCITS will lead to tax neutrality treatment of investment funds in the EU. Overall, we confirm that the abolishment of the discriminatory withholding tax can considerably reduce the effective tax levels for cross-border investments. Moreover, the abolishment also diminishes the domestic investment bias. Nonetheless, the results do not confirm the achievement of neutrality. |
| Keywords: | European Court of Justice, Funds, Investor, Taxation, Portugal |
| JEL: | H24 H25 K34 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:312198 |
| By: | Helena Perrone |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the Nvidia-Arm vertical merger through the lens of the recent literature in Industrial Organization. It explores potential competitive concerns surrounding market foreclosure, technological access, and exclusionary behavior, considering the dynamic semiconductor industry’s intricacies. Although limited public information is available due to the parties halting the merger during phase two, I propose four theories of competitive effects addressing issues such as vertical foreclosure in dynamic markets, stifling of innovation due to hold-up concerns, and the ecosystem effects of the merger. This discussion sheds light on the potential impact of this merger in the semiconductor industry on competition in innovative high tech markets such as CPUs, datacenters, gaming consoles, and assisted driving. |
| Keywords: | vertical merger, foreclosure, holdup, ecosystems, semiconductor industry |
| JEL: | L4 K2 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_647 |