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How far do criminal understand the criminal law? Evidence from French mandatory sentencing

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  • Philippe, Arnaud

Abstract

This paper documents how quickly and how precisely would-be offenders understand and adapt to criminal law. It relies on a mandatory sentencing act against repeat offenders passed by the French parliament in August 2007. It exploits the gap between the public presentation of the law – an overall increase in the severity of sentences on repeat offenders – and the enforcement – an increase on a specific subgroup of repeat offenders. Using duration model and competitive risk analysis on individual data representing the universe of convictions that occurred in France during this period, this paper studies the evolution of the two instantaneous probabilities of committing a new crime targeted or not targeted by the law. The analysis shows that the law equally deterred targeted and untargeted crimes in the short term while only targeted behaviors remain affected in the medium term. These results provide evidence that even a strongly distorted presentation failed to mislead people for a long time. They are coherent with a learning effect of complex criminal law. This learning effect goes faster for more rational criminals or older offenders.

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe, Arnaud, 2015. "How far do criminal understand the criminal law? Evidence from French mandatory sentencing," IAST Working Papers 17-72, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST).
  • Handle: RePEc:tse:iastwp:32201
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    Cited by:

    1. repec:hal:journl:hal-03393230 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Roberto Galbiati & Aurélie Ouss & Arnaud Philippe, 2021. "Jobs, News and Reoffending after Incarceration [Examining the generality of the unemployment–crime association]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 247-270.
    3. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6lb0bbni2p86t8ib82gjce1ok1 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Roberto Galbiati & Aurélie Ouss & Arnaud Philippe, 2015. "Jobs, News and Re-offending after Incarceration," Sciences Po publications 41, Sciences Po.

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