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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:50 pm
Time: 11:50 pm
Results for criminal deterrence
5 results foundAuthor: Doleac, Jennifer L. Title: The Effects of DNA Databases on Crime Summary: Since 1988, every US state has established a database of criminal offenders’ DNA profiles. These databases have received widespread attention in the media and popular culture, but this paper provides the first rigorous analysis of their impact on crime. DNA databases are distinctive for two reasons: (1) They exhibit enormous returns to scale, and (2) they work mainly by increasing the probability that a criminal is punished rather than the severity of the punishment. I exploit the details and timing of state DNA database expansions in two ways, first to address the effects of DNA profiling on individual’s subsequent criminal behavior and then to address the impacts on crime rates and arrest probabilities. I first show that profiled violent offenders are more likely to return to prison than similar, unprofiled offenders. This suggests that the higher probability of getting caught outweighs the deterrent effect of DNA profiling. I then show that larger DNA databases reduce crime rates, especially in categories where forensic evidence is likely to be collected at the scene—e.g., murder, rape, assault, and vehicle theft. The probability of arresting a suspect in new crimes falls as databases grow, likely due to selection effects. Back-of-the-envelope estimates of the marginal cost of preventing each crime suggest that DNA databases are much more cost-effective than other common law enforcement tools. Details: Charlottesville, VA: Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia,, 2012. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed March 4, 2013 at: http://www.batten.virginia.edu/sites/default/files/fwpapers/Doleac_DNADatabases_0.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.batten.virginia.edu/sites/default/files/fwpapers/Doleac_DNADatabases_0.pdf Shelf Number: 127821 Keywords: Criminal DeterrenceCriminal InvestigationDNA FingerprintingDNA Typing |
Author: Shavell, Steven Title: A Simple Model of Optimal Deterrence and Incapacitation Summary: The deterrence of crime and its reduction through incapacitation are studied in a simple multi-period model of crime and law enforcement. Optimal imprisonment sanctions and the optimal probability of sanctions are determined. A point of emphasis is that the incapacitation of individuals is often socially desirable even when they are potentially deterrable. The reason is that successful deterrence may require a relatively high probability of sanctions and thus a relatively high enforcement expense. In contrast, incapacitation may yield benefits no matter how low the probability of sanctions is - implying that incapacitation may be superior to deterrence. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper No. 20747: Accessed April 1, 2015 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20747.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20747.pdf Shelf Number: 135111 Keywords: Criminal DeterrenceImprisonmentIncapacitationPunishment |
Author: Kantorowicz, Elena Title: Any-Where Any-Time: Ambiguity and the Perceived Probability of Apprehension Summary: Enforcement is a costly endeavour. Thus, governments ought to be innovative in designing less costly policies, yet, effective in preventing crime. To this end, this paper suggests using insights from behavioural law and economics. Empirical evidence demonstrates that police have an important effect in deterring crime. However, increasing the number of policemen is a costly policy. Therefore, this paper explores policy changes which exploit offender's ambiguity aversion in order to reduce crime without increasing the police force. Namely, empirical evidence suggests that criminals are better deterred by ambiguous detection. Thus, this paper analyses the ways to randomize the apprehension strategies to meet this end. Furthermore, it provides new evidence, based on a survey, that potential violators are largely not aware of policy changes. Inasmuch as the information regarding the intensified uncertainty is essential to its success, this paper discusses the possibility to increase criminals' awareness through the 'availability heuristic'. Details: Rotterdam: Erasmus University, Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics, 2014. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics (RILE) Working Paper Series, No. 2014/11: Accessed April 23, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2202329 Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2202329 Shelf Number: 135371 Keywords: Costs of Criminal JusticeCrime PreventionCriminal ApprehensionCriminal DeterrenceLaw Enforcement |
Author: Doleac, Jennifer L. Title: The effects of DNA databases on the deterrence and detection of offenders Summary: Countries around the world use databases of criminal offenders' DNA profiles to match known offenders with crime scene evidence. The purpose is to ease police detection work and to increase the probability that offenders get caught if they reoffend, thereby deterring future criminal activity. However, relatively little is known about the behavioral effects of this law enforcement tool. We exploit a large expansion of Denmark's DNA database in 2005 to measure the effect of DNA profiling on criminal behavior. Individuals charged after the expansion were much more likely to be added to the DNA database than similar offenders charged just before that date. Using a regression discontinuity strategy, we find that the average effect of the DNA database is a reduction in recidivism. By using the rich Danish register data, we further show that effects are heterogeneous across observable offender characteristics; it is mainly offenders initially charged with violent crime that are deterred from committing new crimes. We also find that DNA profiling has a positive detection effect, increasing the probability that repeat offenders get caught. Finally, we find evidence that DNA profiling changes non-criminal behavior: offenders added to the DNA database are more likely to get or remain married. This is consistent with the hypothesis that, by deterring future criminal behavior, DNA profiling changes an offender's life course for the better. Details: Unpublished paper, 2016. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 11, 2017 at: http://jenniferdoleac.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/DNA_Denmark.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Denmark URL: http://jenniferdoleac.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/DNA_Denmark.pdf Shelf Number: 147325 Keywords: Criminal DeterrenceCriminal InvestigationDNA FingerprintingDNA TypingRecidivismReoffending |
Author: Doleac, Jennifer L. Title: The Interaction and Impact of State DNA Database Laws, Final Summary Overview Summary: Despite the widespread use of criminal offender DNA databases by the law enforcement community, relatively little is known about their real-world effects on criminal behavior. The purpose of DNA databases is to quickly and accurately match crime scene evidence with known offenders. They aim to reduce crime by increasing the probability of punishment, conditional on offending. They also exhibit large returns to scale. For these reasons, DNA databases are likely to be far more cost-effective than traditional law enforcement tools. Indeed, previous research has shown that DNA databases have large crime-reducing effects at the state level (Doleac, 2015). However, because DNA database expansions are - like most crime policies - legislated at the state level, the resulting policies may not be efficient from a national perspective. Each state will weigh its own costs and benefits when making policy decisions, without regard for their effects on other states. But state DNA databases do not exist in a vacuum: they could have effects on criminal behavior elsewhere. The federal government can improve the national efficiency of state-level policies by inducing states to consider the costs and benefits to their neighbors - i.e., to internalize the externalities. The federal government has invested a large amount of money in helping states expand their databases and clear sample backlogs, presumably because it perceives positive externalities to state database expansions. Positive externalities would exist if offenders are highly mobile, and are deterred or incapacitated upon being added to a state database. If they stop committing crime, this would reduce crime in other states. Positive externalities could also exist if profiles from one state help other states catch and incapacitate offenders. One important aspect of DNA database policy in the United States is that states can search for profile matches across state lines, using CODIS. This should increase the positive externalities of state-level expansions. For instance, if Georgia expands its database, neighboring states such as Florida could benefit from being able to search those additional profiles. Depending on how often crimes in Florida are committed by out-of-state offenders, the expansion of Georgia's database could help Florida identify and convict more offenders, reducing its own crime rate. When Georgia is weighing the costs and benefits of expanding its database, it will probably not consider these external benefits, and so its database will be inefficiently small; hence the justification for federal funding to encourage more expansions. However, there could be negative externalities, particularly if a state's database expansion induces probable offenders to move to another state. For instance, suppose Georgia adds felony arrestees to its database, but Florida does not include that group. Offenders in Georgia who think they could be arrested for a felony will have an incentive to move to Florida, to avoid DNA profiling and therefore detection for past or future crimes. (Such a behavioral effect is not unreasonable to expect: we typically assume that human capital is mobile, and that workers move to places with better jobs.) In this case, Georgia's database expansion would displace some of its own crime to Florida. As before, Georgia would not include this external cost in its cost-benefit analysis, but in this case a state database that seems optimal from the state's perspective will be inefficiently large from the national perspective. Which of these externalities dominates in the DNA database context is an empirical question. The goal of this project is to answer that question. This report summarizes the main findings. Details: Final report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2017. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 20, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/251035.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/251035.pdf Shelf Number: 147416 Keywords: Cost-Benefit AnalysisCriminal DeterrenceCriminal InvestigationDNA FingerprintingDNA TypingRecidivismReoffending |