Prison crowding, recidivism, and early release in early Rhode Island

Howard Bodenhorn

Explorations in Economic History, 2016, vol. 59, issue C, 55-74

Abstract: Prison crowding is a pervasive modern problem with deep historical roots. The long-term solution to crowding has been more prisons; the short-term solution is early release. Early release programs can be effective when they balance the savings of reduced prison costs against the costs of recidivism by released convicts. This paper uses historical data to investigate how prison officials altered their early release policies in the face of prison crowding and rising real detention costs. The empirical evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that prison officials make use of information about the risks of recidivism revealed at trial and during incarceration to make informed decisions about whom to release and when.

Keywords: Prison crowding; Recidivism; Early release; Parole; Pardon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N3 N4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001449831500039X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Prison Crowding, Recidivism, and Early Release in Early Rhode Island (2015)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:59:y:2016:i:c:p:55-74

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2015.09.003

Access Statistics for this article

Explorations in Economic History is currently edited by R.H. Steckel

More articles in Explorations in Economic History from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().