Crime and Criminal Justice

Wider Effects of Police Killings in Minority Neighborhoods

By Desmond Ang·June 24, 2020
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

The Issue:

High-profile officer-involved killings of unarmed minorities have sparked nationwide protests and raised important questions about the appropriate role of law enforcement in local communities. These events comprise just a handful of the roughly one thousand officer-involved killings that occur each year

Economics Research on Racial Disparities in Policing

By Felipe Goncalves and Emily Weisburst·June 16, 2020
University of California, Los Angeles

The Issue:

Protests following the horrific death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have brought a new focus to racial disparities in U.S. policing. Administrative data and quantitative research has long documented large race disparities in arrests, traffic searches, speeding tickets, and use of force. For many years,

Incarceration and the COVID-19 Crisis

By Jennifer Doleac, Anna Harvey and Jacob Kaplan·May 20, 2020
Texas A&M University, New York University and University of Pennsylvania

The Issue:

The novel coronavirus outbreak has focused attention on the potential for disease transmission in prisons and jails. Prisons and jails present significant challenges to containing disease outbreak. Many called for immediate reductions in prison and jail populations in order to protect the health of inmates,

Does Deporting Immigrants Lower Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities

By Annie Laurie Hines and Giovanni Peri·December 11, 2019
University of California, Davis

The Issue:

The goal of reducing crime has been cited as one justification for policies that increase the government's ability to deport immigrants. But there are different — and conflicting — ways in which increasing deportations could impact crime. If immigrants targeted for deportation are more likely to be

Sentencing Reform Update: The Economic Case for the “First Step Act”

By Emily Weisburst·December 18, 2018
University of California, Los Angeles

(Click here for a larger version of the graph.)

The Issue:

When it comes to putting people behind bars, the United States is an outlier: The share of the population that is incarcerated is higher by far in the U.S. than in most other countries. Maintaining this high rate of incarceration comes at a high cost to ...
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Football, College Party Culture, and Sexual Assault

By Jason Lindo, Peter Siminski and Isaac D. Swensen·July 19, 2018
Texas A&M University, University of Technology Sydney, and Montana State University

The Issue:

Sexual assault at colleges and universities in the United States is an important and pervasive problem. The presence of alcohol is involved in a large proportion of these incidents. The federal government has increased awareness of the issue and provided guidance on efforts to prevent sexual violence ...
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Can Employment-Focused Programs Reduce Reincarceration Rates?

By Jennifer Doleac·June 29, 2018
Texas A&M University

The Issue:

Two-thirds of those released from prison are arrested again within three years. Breaking this incarceration cycle is a top policy priority, but it is unclear which programs are effective at achieving this goal. Those who are employed are less likely to reoffend, and this correlation has led many to think

Access to Substance Abuse Treatment, Drug Overdose Deaths, and Crime

By Samuel R. Bondurant, Jason Lindo and Isaac D. Swensen·March 16, 2018
Texas A&M University and Montana State University

(Click here for a larger interactive version. Hover over each county to see county-specific estimates.)

The Issue:

Fueled in part by a raging opioid epidemic, drug overdose deaths have surged in the United States since 1999. More people currently die from drug overdoses than from motor vehicle accidents, as drug-related ...
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Do Police Body-Worn Cameras Reduce the Use of Force?

By Jennifer Doleac·November 17, 2017
University of Virginia

The Issue:

Public outrage following several high profile police shootings captured on cell phone videos led police departments across the nation to equip officers with body cameras. The policy aimed to improve transparency and accountability, in the hopes of reducing the use of force by police officers and thereby ...
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