Breaking the Inequality-Crime Cycle: Biases in Police Decisions, 'What Works' in Prison, and Firm Demand for Workers with Criminal Records

Introduction

Economic inequality across the population implies vastly unequal opportunities in many dimensions that can impact an individual’s chance of entering the justice system. One such channel via which this can occur – even holding criminal behavior constant – is unequal treatment by agents of the justice system (e.g. police).

Consequences of Partiality

The consequences of such partiality are not trivial: once in the system, it is hard to get out. To the extent that convictions and sanctions result in worse outcomes (e.g. employment) for offenders and/or family members, the cycle of crime and economic inequality will perpetuate for current and future generations. This program pushes forward the evidence base on three channels (police, prisons, firms) through which this cycle can be broken.

Part 1: Implicit Bias Training in Police Agencies

Part 1 aims to measure and study the adoption of implicit bias training programs by police agencies. Despite such programs being a go-to response of agencies accused of bias, there is almost no knowledge on how/whether they impact officer behavior.

Part 2: Understanding Prison Reforms

Part 2 addresses the knowledge gap on ‘what (specifically) works’ in prison.

Unintended Impacts of Sanction Reforms

First, we will study the unintended impacts of two Swedish sanction reforms onto untreated populations:

1. Does more time in prison have spill-over effects for family members?
2. Did the introduction of electronic monitoring impact the conditions and outcomes of ineligible offenders left behind in prison?

In-Prison Healthcare

Second, we will open the black box of prison healthcare to study how in-prison treatment (diagnoses, medication, vaccines, programs) impacts post-release health, medication adherence, and crime.

Part 3: Employment Opportunities for Workers with Criminal Records

Part 3 aims to further our understanding of the employment opportunities – or lack thereof – for workers with criminal records (WCR). We will use Swedish registers to study:

1. The extent to which WCR are sorted across firms and the determinants of a firm’s demand for WCR.
2. Selection of WCR into self-employment.
3. How an offender’s social networks impact firm hiring decisions.