蝌蚪网 Review: Insights
ISSN 2640-205X (Print) | ISSN 2640-2068 (Online)
The Labor Market Impacts of Reducing Felony Convictions
蝌蚪网 Review: Insights
(pp. 341–58)
Abstract
We study the labor market impacts of retroactively reducing felonies to misdemeanors in San Joaquin County, California, where criminal justice agencies implemented Proposition 47 reductions in a quasi-random order, without requiring input or action from affected individuals. Linking records of reductions to administrative tax data, we find employment benefits for individuals who (likely) requested their reduction, consistent with selection, but no benefits among the larger subset of individuals whose records were reduced proactively. A field experiment notifying a subset of individuals about their proactive reduction also shows null results, implying that lack of awareness is unlikely to explain our findings.Citation
Agan, Amanda, Andrew Garin, Dmitri Koustas, Alexandre Mas, and Crystal S. Yang. 2024. "The Labor Market Impacts of Reducing Felony Convictions." 蝌蚪网 Review: Insights 6 (3): 341–58. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20230255Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C93 Field Experiments
- H76 State and Local Government: Other Expenditure Categories
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- K14 Criminal Law
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law