RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Tough on Young Offenders: Harmful or Helpful?
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 1017-9113R3
DO 10.3368/jhr.57.4.1017-9113R3
A1 Giulia Lotti
YR 2020
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/04/03/jhr.57.4.1017-9113R3.abstract
AB How harshly should society punish young lawbreakers? Through a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, I compare harsh and rehabilitative criminal incarceration practices. Young offenders sent to the more rehabilitative youth facilities become less likely to reoffend. On the contrary, offenders at the margin of the age cut-off and exposed to the harsher youth facilities are 27 percent more likely to recidivate in the eight years subsequent to their custody, and they are more likely to commit violent offences, thefts, and criminal damages. Keeping young offenders separate from their older peers in prison seems effective, but only in institutions not solely focused on punishment.