We evaluate the impact on crime of a localized policing experiment that depenalized the possession of small quantities of cannabis in the London borough of Lambeth. We find that depenalization policy caused the police to reallocate effort toward nondrug crime. Despite the overall fall in crime attributable to the policy, we find that the total welfare of local residents likely fell, as measured by house prices. We shed light on what would be the impacts on crime of a citywide depenalization policy by developing and calibrating a structural model of the market for cannabis and crime.
Authors
![Person graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-person-graphic.png?itok=hWCtTSrz)
Jerome Adda
![Imran Rasul](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-08/Imran-Rasul.jpg?itok=8V_L5clA)
CPP Director, IFS Research Director
Imran is Professor of Economics at University College London and Director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the IFS.
![Person graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-person-graphic.png?itok=hWCtTSrz)
Brendon McConnell
Journal article details
- DOI
- 10.1086/676932
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Issue
- October 2014
Suggested citation
J, Adda and B, McConnell and I, Rasul. (2014). 'Crime and the Depenalization of Cannabis Possession: Evidence from a Policing Experiment' (2014)
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