Mitigation of drug sentencing and its effect on crime- Evidence from Supreme Court rulings

Abstract: We estimate the effect of several Supreme Court rulings during 2011 and 2012 that reduced the punishment for serious drug crime. We evaluate whether a decrease in punishment for serious drug crime had an impact on the aggregate crime rates and clear-up rates for seven other crime types. Those are the following; Assault, robbery/theft, theft of car, theft out of car, burglary, minor- and production drug offences. Our findings suggest that crime rates decreased for all property crime types and increased for drug crime following the Supreme Court rulings. In addition we find evidence that the clear-up rate increased for property crime offences while no significant change can be observed for drug crime. Regarding assault crime- and clear-up rates our findings are mixed.