Do greater sanctions deter youth crime? Evidence from a regression discontinuity design

Nicholas Lovett and Yuhan Xue

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 236, issue C

Abstract: We exploit the discontinuous jump in criminal sanctions at the age of majority in conjunction with administrative data from California to generate regression discontinuity estimates of the deterrent effect. Estimates show that the greater severity imposed upon adolescents at age 18 deters violent crime by 10%–12%. Results are robust to multiple techniques and specifications. Using these results, we estimate an elasticity of crime with respect to sanction intensity that ranges from -0.145 to -0.174. We extend our results to demographic sub-populations and find female offenders, as well as white and Asian offenders, are relatively more responsive to sanctions.

Keywords: Juvenile crime; Deterrence; Regression discontinuity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I38 J13 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125002021

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107083

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