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Results for mandatory minimum sentencing

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Author: Abram, David S.

Title: Estimating the Deterrent Effect of Incarceration using Sentencing Enhancements

Summary: Increasing criminal sanctions may reduce crime through two primary mechanisms: deterrence and incapacitation. Disentangling their effects is crucial, since each mechanism has different implications for optimal policy setting. I use the introduction of state add-on gun laws, which enhance sentences for defendants possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, to isolate the deterrent effect of incarceration. Defendants subject to add-ons would be incarcerated in the absence of the law change, so any short-term impact on crime can be attributed solely to deterrence. 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 three 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.

Details: Unpublished Paper, 2011. 43p.

Source: Internet Resource: U of Penn, Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 11-13 : Accessed October 28, 2013 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1819503

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1819503

Shelf Number: 131506

Keywords:
Armed Robbery
Deterrence
Gun Violence
Incarceration
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
Punishment
Sentencing