Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/183392 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IFN Working Paper No. 1163
Publisher: 
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Abstract: 
According to Swedish penal code, there is a "rebate" on all prison sentences before the 21st birthday. We exploit this age discontinuity to investigate how individuals respond to harsher punishments. We use a large Swedish dataset, including dates for all crimes which led to convictions for cohorts born during the period 1973-1993. We find evidence of "bunching" in the sense that more crimes were committed during the week prior to a 21st birthday, followed by a reduction in crime during the week after this birthday. We do not, however, find that harsher punishment reduces the crime rate permanently.
Subjects: 
General deterrence
Prison
Sorting
Age thresholds
JEL: 
D9
K4
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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