Does Prison Harden Inmates? A Discontinuity-based Approach

Jesse M. Shapiro; M. Keith Chen

Does Prison Harden Inmates? A Discontinuity-based Approach

Some two million Americans are currently incarcerated, with roughly six hundred thousand to be released this year. Despite this, little is known about the effects of confinement on the post-release lives of inmates. Focusing on post-release criminal activity, we identify the effect of prison conditi...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn:	Jesse M. Shapiro (VerfasserIn)
Beteiligte:	M. Keith Chen
Medienart:	Elektronisch Buch
Sprache:	Englisch
Online-Zugang:	Volltext (kostenfrei)
Verfügbarkeit prüfen:	HBZ Gateway
Schlagwörter:	Research

Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:	Some two million Americans are currently incarcerated, with roughly six hundred thousand to be released this year. Despite this, little is known about the effects of confinement on the post-release lives of inmates. Focusing on post-release criminal activity, we identify the effect of prison conditions on recidivism rates by exploiting a discontinuity in the assignment of federal prisoners to security levels. We find that worsening prison conditions significantly increases post-release crime, and that this increase is skewed towards the commission of violent crimes.prisons, regression discontinuity, security level