More Evidence Prison Is Relatively Ineffective ...

"General Equilibrium Effects of  Prison on Crime: Evidence from International Comparisons" by Justin McCrary and Sarath Sanga

ABSTRACT

We compare crime and incarceration rates over time for the United States, Canada, and England and Wales, as well as for a small selection of comparison countries. Shifts in U.S. punishment policy led to a five-fold increase in the incarceration rate, while nearly every other country experienced only minor increases in incarceration. The large shifts in U.S. punishment policy do not seem to have caused commensurately large improvements in public safety.
Justin McCrary is a professor of law in the School of Law at the University of  California, Berkeley and a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research.  Sarath Sanga is a law student at Yale Law School.

Cato Papers on Public Policy, Vol. 2 © 2012, Cato Institute

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