12.03.2014 Views

The Effects of Sanction Intensity on Criminal Conduct - JDAI Helpdesk

The Effects of Sanction Intensity on Criminal Conduct - JDAI Helpdesk

The Effects of Sanction Intensity on Criminal Conduct - JDAI Helpdesk

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

(albeit based <strong>on</strong> our interpolated dates rather than accurate <strong>on</strong>es), but to maintain<br />

c<strong>on</strong>sistency this would require us to ignore failures that overlapped with jail time. Since<br />

this would have meant ignoring <strong>on</strong>e-third <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> our failure outcomes (111 <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> 335 failures<br />

overlapped with interpolated jail days), we compromised by including the twelve original<br />

m<strong>on</strong>thly indicator variables in our model to c<strong>on</strong>trol for each post-RA m<strong>on</strong>th in jail. This<br />

is another important caveat in interpreting the results.<br />

Outcome data and measures<br />

Our main outcomes <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> interest in the present analyses are the prevalence and<br />

frequency <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> any <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fense committed within two years after the date <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> random<br />

assignment and resulting in a formal charge. Our pre-RA measures <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> crime are also<br />

based <strong>on</strong> charged <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fenses occurring in the year before the RA date. To answer our final<br />

research questi<strong>on</strong>, we examine these outcomes using specific data <strong>on</strong> drug and violent<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fenses.<br />

We select violent and drug <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fending as sec<strong>on</strong>dary outcomes <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> interest<br />

because they may be most interesting to policymakers 15 .<br />

One c<strong>on</strong>siderable limitati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> our crime outcomes is that they <strong>on</strong>ly reflect<br />

charges as an adult for <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fenses in Philadelphia, as we <strong>on</strong>ly had access to local adult<br />

criminal justice system databases.<br />

While almost all <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the participants reside in<br />

Philadelphia, the city’s proximity and ease <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> access to surrounding counties and state<br />

lines mean that the local data almost certainly underestimate the number <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> charged<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fenses recorded for these <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fenders. In additi<strong>on</strong>, we do not have juvenile data available<br />

to give a full picture <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fenders’ lifetime criminal involvement. While most <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the<br />

85

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!