@article{ref1,
title="Crime, deterrence and punishment revisited",
journal="Empirical economics",
year="2020",
author="Bun, Maurice J. G. and Kelaher, Richard and Sarafidis, Vasilis and Weatherburn, Don",
volume="59",
number="5",
pages="2303-2333",
abstract="Despite an abundance of empirical evidence on crime spanning over 40 years, there exists no consensus on the impact of the criminal justice system on crime activity. We construct a new panel data set that contains all relevant variables prescribed by economic theory. Our identification strategy allows for a feedback relationship between crime and deterrence variables, and it controls for omitted variables and measurement error. We deviate from the majority of the literature in that we specify a dynamic model, which captures the essential feature of habit formation and persistence in aggregate behaviour. Our results show that the criminal justice system exerts a large influence on crime activity. Increasing the risk of apprehension and conviction is more influential in reducing crime than raising the expected severity of punishment.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0377-7332",
doi="10.1007/s00181-019-01758-6",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00181-019-01758-6"
}