Early Release via Parole and Recidivism

Armando N. Meier (), Jonathan Levav (), Stephan Meier () and Liora G. Avnaim
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Armando N. Meier: University of Basel
Jonathan Levav: Stanford University
Stephan Meier: Columbia University
Liora G. Avnaim: Hebrew University, Jerusalem

No 18076, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Does early release decrease or increase the probability that ex-convicts will return to prison? We exploit unique data from Israeli courts, where appearance before the judge throughout the day has an arbitrary component. We first show that judges more often deny parole requests of prisoners appearing further from the judges' last break. We then use this arbitrary variation in early releases and find that early releases reduce the propensity of prisoners to return to prison. Robustness checks suggest that later and earlier cases are largely comparable and that potential selection is unlikely to explain the results.

Keywords: sentence length; early release; recidivism; parole; judges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D9 K14 K40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
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