Steve Mello talks the long-term financial impacts of small criminal justice fines. “ Fines and Financial Wellbeing ” by Steven Mello. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: " Report on the economic well-being of U.S. households in 2017 " by Jeff Larrimore, Alex Durante, Kimberly Kreiss, Christina Park, and Claudia Sahm. " Criminalizing poverty: The consequences of court fees in a randomized experiment " by Devah Pager, Rebecca Goldstein, Helen Ho, and Bruce Western. " The Government Revenue,...
May 06, 2025•37 min•Ep. 156
Rachel Nesbit talks about the effects of mandating mental health treatment for probationers. “ The Role of Mandated Mental Health Treatment in the Criminal Justice System ” by Rachel Nesbit. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “ Calgary Diversion Program: A Community-Based Alternative to Incarceration for Mentally Ill Offenders ” by Craig Mitton, Liz Simpson, Leslie Gardner, Fran Barnes, and Gerald McDougall. “ Mental Health Treatment and Criminal Justice Outcomes ” by Richard G. Frank an...
Apr 08, 2025•47 min•Ep. 155
Peter Hull talks about the effects of a jail-based education program called IGNITE. “ 'Something Works' in U.S. Jails: Misconduct and Recidivism Effects of the IGNITE Program ” by Marcella Alsan, Arkey Barnett, Peter Hull, and Crystal Yang. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “ What Works? Questions and Answers about Prison Reform ” by Robert Martinson. “ Incarceration, Recidivism, and Employment ” by Manudeep Bhuller, Gordon B. Dahl, Katrine V. Løken, and Magne Mogstad. “ Thinking, Fast ...
Mar 11, 2025•53 min•Ep. 154
Abi Adams talks about economic abuse as it relates to intimate partner violence. “ The Dynamics of Abusive Relationships ” by Abi Adams, Kristiina Huttunen, Emily Nix, and Ning Zhang. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: " Motherhood and Violence " by Gabriela Deschamps. " Female empowerment and male backlash: Experimental evidence from India " by Claire Cullen, Sarthak Joshi, Joseph Vecci, and Julia Talbot-Jones. " The Unintended Impacts of an Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Program:...
Feb 11, 2025•50 min•Ep. 153
Alex Albright talks about money bail and the effects of bail reform. “No Money Bail, No Problems? Trade-offs in a Pretrial Automatic Release Program” by Alex Albright. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Tripping through Hoops: The Effect of Violating Compulsory Government Procedures” by Natalia Emanuel and Helen Ho. “The Effects of Pretrial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges” by Will Dobbie, Jacob Goldin, and Crystal S. Yang. “D...
Jan 14, 2025•52 min•Ep. 152
Roman Rivera talks about the effects of electronic monitoring for US pretrial defendants. “ Release, Detain, or Surveil? The Effect of Electronic Monitoring on Defendant Outcomes ” by Roman Rivera. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: " The Effects of Pretrial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges " by Will Dobbie, Jacob Goldin, and Crystal S. Yang. “ Criminal Recidivism after Prison and Electronic Monitoring ” by Rafael Di Tella and ...
Dec 17, 2024•59 min•Ep. 151
Aurélie Ouss talks about how changing who pays for incarceration affects sentencing decisions. “ Misaligned incentives and the scale of incarceration in the United States ” by Aurélie Ouss. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: The Collapse of American Criminal Justice by William J. Stuntz. " The rise in the disability rolls and the decline in unemployment " by David H. Autor and Mark G. Duggan. " Incentives to provide local public goods: fiscal federalism, Russian style " by Ekaterina Zhur...
Nov 19, 2024•47 min•Ep. 150
Anjali Adukia talks about how using restorative justice practices in schools affects student behavior. “ From Retributive to Restorative: An Alternative Approach to Justice in Schools ” by Anjali Adukia, Benjamin Feigenberg, and Fatemeh Momeni. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “ Breaking Schools’ Rules: A Statewide Study of How School Discipline Relates to Students’ Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement " by Tony Fabelo, Michael D. Thompson, Martha Plotkin, Dottie Carmichael, Miner ...
Oct 22, 2024•45 min•Ep. 149
Ariel White talks about the effect of short jail spells on subsequent voting behavior. This episode was first posted in October 2019. "Misdemeanor Disenfranchisement? The Demobilizing Effects of Brief Jail Spells on Potential Voters" by Ariel White. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: "Turnout and Party Registration among Criminal Offenders in the 2008 General Election" by Traci Burch "Did Disfranchisement Laws Help Elect President Bush? New Evidence on the Turnout Rates and Candidate Pre...
Sep 24, 2024•44 min•Ep. 148
Jeff Weaver talks about the long-term effects of parental and sibling incarceration. This episode was first posted in July 2019. "The Effect of Parental and Sibling Incarceration: Evidence from Ohio" by Samuel Norris, Matthew Pecenco, and Jeffrey Weaver. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Disrupted Childhoods: Children of Women in Prison” by Jane A. Siegal. “Parental Arrest and Incarceration: How Does it Affect Children?” By Stephen B. Billings. “Incarceration Spillovers in Criminal and...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 147
Emma Rackstraw talks about how reality TV affects policing outcomes. “ When Reality TV Creates Reality: How ‘Copaganda’ Affects Police, Communities, and Viewers ” by Emma Rackstraw. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: Arrest Decisions: What Works for the Officer? by Edith Linn " ‘No Hatred or Malice, Fear or Affection’: Media and Sentencing " by Arnaud Philippe and Aurélie Ouss. “ The Birth of a Nation: Media and Racial Hate " by Desmond Ang. " The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting "...
Jul 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 146
David Macdonald talks about the effects of truth-in-sentencing policies. “ Truth in Sentencing, Incentives and Recidivism ” by David Macdonald. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “ Police, prosecutors, criminals, and determinate sentencing: The truth about truth-in-sentencing laws ” by Joanna M. Shepherd. “ Responses to more severe punishment in the courtroom: Evidence from truth-in-sentencing laws " by Libor Dusek and Fusako Tsuchimoto. " Truthiness in punishment: The far reach of truth...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 145
Ryan Sakoda talks about the effects of post-release supervision. “ Abolish or Reform? An Analysis of Post-Release Supervision ” by Ryan Sakoda. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “ Intensive Probation and Parole " by Joan Petersilia and Susan Turner. “ The Effects of Low-Intensity Supervision for Lower-Risk Probationers: Updated Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial ” by Geoffrey C. Barnes, Jordan M. Hyatt, Lindsay Ahlman, and Daniel Kent. “ An Experimental Evaluation of the Impact ...
Jun 04, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 144
Amanda Agan talks about how sealing criminal records affects employment. “ Can you Erase the Mark of a Criminal Record? Labor Market Impacts of Criminal Record Remediation ” by Amanda Agan, Andrew Garin, Dmitri Koustas, Alex Mas, and Crystal Yang. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: Probable Causation Episode 9: Michael Mueller-Smith “ Ban the Box, Criminal Records, and Racial Discrimination: A Field Experiment " by Amanda Agan and Sonja Starr. Probable Causation Episode 8: Amanda Agan " ...
May 07, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 143
Oeindrila Dube talks about a cognitive behavioral training program for police. “ A Cognitive View of Policing ” by Oeindrila Dube, Sandy Jo MacArthur, and Anuj Shah. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: " Thinking, fast and slow? Some field experiments to reduce crime and dropout in Chicago " by Sara B. Heller, Anuj K. Shah, Jonathan Guryan, Jens Ludwig, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Harold A. Pollack. " Can You Build a Better Cop? " by Emily Owens, David Weisburd, Karen L. Amendola, and Geoff...
Apr 09, 2024•49 min•Ep. 142
Erich Muehlegger talks about the effect of air pollution on crime. This episode was first posted in September 2020. "Air Pollution and Criminal Activity: Microgeographic Evidence from Chicago" by Evan Herrnstadt, Anthony Heyes, Erich Muehlegger, and Soodeh Saberian. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Crime Is in the Air: The Contemporaneous Relationship between Air Pollution and Crime” by Malvina Bondy, Sefi Roth, and Lutz Sager. “The effect of pollution on crime: Evidence from data on ...
Mar 12, 2024•43 min•Ep. 141
Aurelie Ouss talks about using insights from behavioral economics to reduce failures-to-appear in court. This episode was first posted in January 2020. "Nudging Crime Policy: Reducing Failures to Appear for Court" by Alissa Fishbane, Aurelie Ouss, and Anuj K. Shah. (Available from the authors upon request.) Related policy paper: "Using Behavioral Science to Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes: Preventing Failures to Appear in Court" by Brice Cook, Binta Zahra Diop, Alissa Fishbane, Jonathan Hayes,...
Feb 27, 2024•56 min•Ep. 140
Marguerite Burns and Laura Dague talk about the effects of Medicaid enrollment on recidivism. " In-Kind Welfare Benefits and Reincarceration Risk: Evidence from Medicaid " by Marguerite Burns and Laura Dague. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: " Mental Health and Criminal Involvement: Evidence from Losing Medicaid Eligibility " by Elisa Jacome. Probable Causation Episode 60: Elisa Jacome “ The consequences of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act for police arrests ” by Jessic...
Feb 13, 2024•59 min•Ep. 139
William Arbour talks about how prison-based behavioral programs in Canada affect recidivism. " Can Recidivism Be Prevented From Behind Bars? Evidence From a Behavioral Program " by William Arbour. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “ Thinking, fast and slow? Some field experiments to reduce crime and dropout in Chicago ” by Sara B. Heller, Anuj K. Shah, Jonathan Guryan, Jens Ludwig, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Harold A. Pollack. “ Reducing crime and violence: Experimental evidence from cog...
Jan 30, 2024•54 min•Ep. 138
Randi Hjalmarsson talks about how punishment severity affects juries' decisions to convict. This episode was first posted in June 2020. "How Punishment Severity Affects Jury Verdicts: Evidence from Two Natural Experiments" by Anna Bindler and Randi Hjalmarsson. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Making the Crime Fit the Penalty: The Role of Prosecutorial Discretion under Mandatory Minimum Sentencing” by David Bjerk. “The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials” by Shamena Anwar, Patrick ...
Jan 16, 2024•45 min•Ep. 137
Sara Heller talks about summer youth employment programs. "Summer Jobs Reduce Violence Among Disadvantaged Youth" by Sara B. Heller. "Rethinking the Benefits of Youth Employment Programs: The Heterogeneous Effects of Summer Jobs" by Jonathan M.V. Davis and Sara B. Heller OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: "What Works? A Meta Analysis of Recent Active Labor Market Program Evaluations" by David Card, Jochen Kluve, and Andrea Weber. "Active Labor Market Policies" by Bruno Crépon and Gerard ...
Jan 02, 2024•45 min•Ep. 136
Xinming Du talks about how aggressive posts on social media affect offline violence. “Symptom or Culprit? Social Media, Air Pollution, and Violence” by Xinming Du. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Experimental Evidence of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion Through Social Networks” by Adam Kramer, Jamie Guillory, and Jeffrey Hancock. “Social Media and Protest Participation: Evidence from Russia” by Ruben Enikolopov, Alexey Makarin, and Maria Petrova. “Fanning the Flames of Hate: Social ...
Dec 19, 2023•43 min•Ep. 135
Marina Gorzig and Deborah Rho talk about the effects of renter protection policies (including limits on landlords' use of criminal records) in Minneapolis. “The Impact of Renter Protection Policies on Housing Discrimination in Minneapolis” by Marina Gorzig and Deborah Rho. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “The Unintended Consequences of ‘Ban the Box’: Statistical Discrimination and Employment Outcomes when Criminal Histories are Hidden” by Jennifer Doleac and Benjamin Hansen. “Ban the ...
Dec 05, 2023•51 min•Ep. 134
Ben Feigenberg talks about socioeconomic disparities in who police stop for traffic offenses. “Class Disparities and Discrimination in Traffic Stops and Searches” by Ben Feigenberg and Conrad Miller. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Would Eliminating Racial Disparities in Motor Vehicle Searches Have Efficiency Costs?” by Ben Feigenberg and Conrad Miller. “Smartphone Data Reveal Neighborhood-Level Racial Disparities in Police Presence” by M. Keith Chen, Katherine L. Christensen, Elicia...
Nov 21, 2023•33 min•Ep. 133
Evan Rose talks about community supervision, and the costs and benefits of incarceration as a consequence for breaking probation rules “Who Gets a Second Chance? Effectiveness and Equity in Supervision of Criminal Offenders” by Evan K. Rose OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Five Year Outcomes in a Randomized Trial of a Community-Based Multi-Agency Intensive Supervision Juvenile Probation Program” by Karen Hennigan, Kathy Kolnick, Tian Sivan Tian, Cheryl Maxson, and John Poplawski. “The...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 132
David Phillips talks about connecting people released from jail with mental health care. This episode was first posted in February 2022. “Reducing Re-arrests through Light Touch Mental Health Outreach” by Mary Kate Batistich, William N. Evans and David C. Phillips OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Local Access to Mental Healthcare and Crime” by Monica Deza, Johanna Catherine Maclean, and Keisha Solomon. “Mental Health and Criminal Involvement: Evidence from Losing Medicaid Eligibility”...
Oct 24, 2023•47 min•Ep. 131
J.J. Prescott talks about sex offender registries. This episode was first posted in January 2020. "Do Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws Affect Criminal Behavior?" by J.J. Prescott and Jonah E. Rockoff. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: Legislation Targeting Sex Offenders: Are Recent Policies Effective in Reducing Rape? by Alissa R. Ackerman, Meghan Sacks and David F. Greenberg. The Iowa Sex Offender Registry and Recidivism by Geneva Adkins, David Huff, and Paul Stageberg. ...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 130
Ellora Derenoncourt talks about how the Great Migration affected economic mobility. This episode was first posted in September 2020. "Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration" by Ellora Derenoncourt. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: "Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: An Intergenerational Perspective" by Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Maggie R. Jones, and Sonya R. Porter. "The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility I: Childhood Exp...
Sep 26, 2023•58 min•Ep. 129
Elisa Jácome talks about how access to mental health care affects criminal behavior. This episode was first posted in November 2021. “Mental Health and Criminal Involvement: Evidence from Losing Medicaid Eligibility” by Elisa Jácome. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Homeward: Life in the Year After Prison” by Bruce Western. “Thinking, Fast and Slow? Some Field Experiments to Reduce Crime and Dropout in Chicago” by Sara B. Heller, Anuj K. Shah, Jonathan Guryan, Jens Ludwig, Sendhil Mul...
Sep 12, 2023•27 min•Ep. 128
Greg Midgette talks about the effects of 24/7 Sobriety — a program for defendants with alcohol-related offenses, based on swift-certain-fair principles. This episode was first posted in March 2021. “Criminal Deterrence: Evidence from an Individual‐Level Analysis of 24/7 Sobriety” by Beau Kilmer and Greg Midgette. *** OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment” by Mark A.R. Kleiman. "The Efficacy of the Rio Hondo DUI Court: A 2-Y...
Aug 15, 2023•49 min•Ep. 127
