Thoughts from Pennsylvania on “Imprisonment and crime: Can both be reduced?”

From mass incarceration to targeted policing: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…Even though Durlauf and Nagin (2011) emphasize the preventive deterrent effects of targeted policing–crimes averted by greater police presence rather than crimes cleared by arrest–Mark Bergstrom (2011) and John Goldkamp (2011) caution that more police may unavoidably lead to more arrests, especially for drug offenses, and thereby drive up imprisonment rates. Shawn Bushway and Peter Reuter (2011) applaud the authors for bringing the fundaments of economic reasoning to the analysis of deterrence but advise that the dynamics of drug markets may undermine the benefits of taking sellers off the street without corresponding reductions in demand.…”