IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v22y1994i1p22-45.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Drug Enforcement and the Deterrence of Property Crime Among Local Jurisdictions

Author

Listed:
  • David L. Sollars

    (Auburn University at Montgomery)

  • Bruce L. Benson

    (Florida State University)

  • David W. Rasmussen

    (Florida State University)

Abstract

This article investigates the relationships among property crime, police resources, and the allocation of police resources in a model using data from Florida jurisdic tions. Crime spillovers among local jurisdictions are also investigated in this context. Significant spillovers are revealed, and the evidence suggests that allocating scarce police resources to drug enforcement reduces the deterrence of property crime. The results also suggest that police may capture rents by increasing drug enforcement. Increasing the relative number of drug arrests raises the property crime rate, and both of these variables are positively correlated with police resources.

Suggested Citation

  • David L. Sollars & Bruce L. Benson & David W. Rasmussen, 1994. "Drug Enforcement and the Deterrence of Property Crime Among Local Jurisdictions," Public Finance Review, , vol. 22(1), pages 22-45, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:22:y:1994:i:1:p:22-45
    DOI: 10.1177/109114219402200102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/109114219402200102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/109114219402200102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carr-Hill, R. A. & Stern, N. H., 1973. "An econometric model of the supply and control of recorded offences in England and Wales," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 289-318.
    2. Samuel Cameron, 1988. "The Economics of Crime Deterrence: A Survey of Theory and Evidence," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 301-323, May.
    3. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. William J. Furlong & Stephen L. Mehay, 1981. "Urban Law Enforcement in Canada: An Empirical Analysis," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 14(1), pages 44-57, February.
    5. Simon Hakim, 1980. "The Attraction of Property Crimes to Suburban Localities: A Revised Economic Model," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 17(3), pages 265-276, October.
    6. Craig, Steven G., 1987. "The deterrent impact of police: An examination of a locally provided public service," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 298-311, May.
    7. Clotfelter, Charles T, 1977. "Public Services, Private Substitutes, and the Demand for Protection against Crime," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(5), pages 867-877, December.
    8. Buck, Andrew J. & Gross, Meir & Hakim, Simon & Weinblatt, J., 1983. "The deterrence hypothesis revisited," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 471-486, November.
    9. Hoenack, Stephen A & Weiler, William C, 1980. "A Structural Model of Murder Behavior and the Criminal Justice System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 327-341, June.
    10. Sjoquist, David Lawrence, 1973. "Property Crime and Economic Behavior: Some Empirical Results," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(3), pages 439-446, June.
    11. Pope, Carl E., 1980. "Patterns in burglary: An empirical examination of offense and offender characteristics," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 39-51.
    12. Kenneth L. Avio & C. Scott Clark, 1978. "The Supply of Property Offences in Ontario: Evidence on the Deterrent Effect of Punishment," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, February.
    13. Kaestner, Robert, 1991. "The Effect of Illicit Drug Use on the Wages of Young Adults," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(4), pages 381-412, October.
    14. repec:bla:kyklos:v:41:y:1988:i:2:p:301-23 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Niskanen, William A, 1975. "Bureaucrats and Politicians," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(3), pages 617-643, December.
    16. Mark Toma & Eugenia Toma, 1980. "Bureaucratic responses to tax limitation amendments," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 333-348, January.
    17. Blumstein, Alfred, 1978. "Research on deterrent and incapacitative effects of criminal sanctions," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 1-2.
    18. David J. Pyle, 1983. "The Economics of Crime and Law Enforcement," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-05245-5, October.
    19. Block, M K & Heineke, J M, 1975. "A Labor Theoretic Analysis of the Criminal Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 314-325, June.
    20. Bruce L. Benson & David W. Rasmussen, 1991. "Relationship Between Illicit Drug Enforcement Policy And Property Crimes," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 9(4), pages 106-115, October.
    21. Ehrlich, Isaac, 1973. "Participation in Illegitimate Activities: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 521-565, May-June.
    22. Kennett, David, 1982. "Standards and Procedures for the Distribution of a Public Service: Shoup Revisited," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 37(1), pages 80-97.
    23. Simon Hakim & Arie Ovadia & Eli Sagi & J. Weinblatt, 1979. "Interjurisdictional Spillover of Crime and Police Expenditure," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(2), pages 200-212.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Garoupa, Nuno, 1997. "Optimal law enforcement and the economics of the drug market: Some comments on the Schengen Agreements," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 521-535, December.
    2. Amanda Ross & Anne Walker, 2014. "Low Priority Laws and the Allocation of Police Resources," Working Papers 14-06, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    3. Miron, Jeffrey A, 2001. "Violence, Guns, and Drugs: A Cross-Country Analysis," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(2), pages 615-633, October.
    4. Jaewook Byeon & Iljoong Kim & Dongwon Lee, 2018. "Protest and property crime: political use of police resources and the deterrence of crime," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 181-196, April.
    5. DeAngelo Gregory J. & Gittings R. Kaj & Ross Amanda, 2018. "Police Incentives, Policy Spillovers, and the Enforcement of Drug Crimes," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-29, March.
    6. Hope Corman & H. Naci Mocan, 1996. "A Time-Series Analysis of Crime and Drug Use in New York City," NBER Working Papers 5463, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Benson, Bruce L. & Rasmussen, David W. & Kim, Iljoong, 1998. "Deterrence and Public Policy: Trade-Offs in the Allocation of Police Resources," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 77-100, March.
    8. Shoesmith, Gary L., 2013. "Space–time autoregressive models and forecasting national, regional and state crime rates," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 191-201.
    9. Gregory DeAngelo & R. Kaj Gittings & Amanda Ross & Annie Walker, 2016. "Police Bias in the Enforcement of Drug Crimes: Evidence from Low Priority Laws," Working Papers 16-01, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    10. Jonathan Caulkins & Maria Dworak & Gustav Feichtinger & Gernot Tragler, 2000. "Price-raising drug enforcement and property crime: a dynamic model," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 227-253, October.
    11. Bruce L. Benson, 2010. "The Allocation of Police," Chapters, in: Bruce L. Benson & Paul R. Zimmerman (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Crime, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Yunker, James A., 2012. "Estimated optimal drug law enforcement expenditures based on U.S. annual data," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 356-371.
    13. Amanda Ross & Anne Walker, 2017. "The Impact Of Low-Priority Laws On Criminal Activity: Evidence From California," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(2), pages 239-252, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Benson, Bruce L. & Rasmussen, David W. & Kim, Iljoong, 1998. "Deterrence and Public Policy: Trade-Offs in the Allocation of Police Resources," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 77-100, March.
    2. Eide, Erling & Rubin, Paul H. & Shepherd, Joanna M., 2006. "Economics of Crime," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 2(3), pages 205-279, December.
    3. Bruce L. Benson, 2010. "The Allocation of Police," Chapters, in: Bruce L. Benson & Paul R. Zimmerman (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Crime, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Joseph Deutsch & Simon Hakim & J. Weinblatt, 1984. "Interjurisdictional Criminal Mobility: A Theoretical Perspective," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 21(4), pages 451-458, November.
    5. Isaac Ehrlich, 1996. "Crime, Punishment, and the Market for Offenses," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 43-67, Winter.
    6. Hope Corman & H. Naci Mocan, 1996. "A Time-Series Analysis of Crime and Drug Use in New York City," NBER Working Papers 5463, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. David W. Rasmussen & Bruce L. Benson & David L. Sollars, 1993. "Spatial Competition In Illicit Drug Markets: The Consequences Of Increased Drug Law Enforcement," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 23(3), pages 219-236, Winter.
    8. Philip A. Curry & Anindya Sen & George Orlov, 2016. "Crime, apprehension and clearance rates: Panel data evidence from Canadian provinces," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(2), pages 481-514, May.
    9. Tadashi Yamada, 1985. "The Crime Rate and the Condition of the Labor Market: A Vector Autoregressive Model," NBER Working Papers 1782, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Maurice J. G. Bun & Richard Kelaher & Vasilis Sarafidis & Don Weatherburn, 2020. "Crime, deterrence and punishment revisited," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2303-2333, November.
    11. Paolo Buonanno, 2003. "The Socioeconomic Determinants of Crime. A Review of the Literature," Working Papers 63, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2003.
    12. Steven N. Durlauf & Daniel S. Nagin, 2010. "The Deterrent Effect of Imprisonment," NBER Chapters, in: Controlling Crime: Strategies and Tradeoffs, pages 43-94, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Guido Travaglini, 2003. "Property Crime and Law Enforcement in Italy. A Regional Panel Analysis 1980-95," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 62(2), pages 211-240, October.
    14. Michael L. Sesnowitz & J. Lawrence Hexter, 1982. "Economic Determinants of Theft: Some Empirical Results," Public Finance Review, , vol. 10(4), pages 489-498, October.
    15. Entorf, Horst, 2012. "Certainty and Severity of Sanctions in Classical and Behavioral Models of Deterrence: A Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 6516, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Justina A.V. Fischer, 2005. "The Impact of Direct Democracy on Crime: Is the Median Voter Boundedly Rational?," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2005 2005-14, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    17. Persson, Mats & Siven, Claes-Henric, 2006. "Incentive and incarceration effects in a general equilibrium model of crime," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 214-229, February.
    18. Paresh Kumar Narayan & Russell Smyth, 2006. "Dead man walking: an empirical reassessment of the deterrent effect of capital punishment using the bounds testing approach to cointegration," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(17), pages 1975-1989.
    19. Levitt, Steven D, 1997. "Using Electoral Cycles in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effect of Police on Crime," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(3), pages 270-290, June.
    20. Horst Entorf & Hannes Spengler, 2015. "Crime, prosecutors, and the certainty of conviction," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 167-201, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:22:y:1994:i:1:p:22-45. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.