The Impact of Marijuana Law Enforcement in an Economic Model of Crime
Edward M. Shepard and Paul R. Blackley, "The Impact of Marijuana Law Enforcement in an Economic Model of Crime," The Journal of Drug Issues 25, issue 1 (April 2007): 20-44.
One of the rationales for spending more money on marijuana law enforcement is to decrease crime overall, thus producing a cost savings and benefiting society. However this study suggests that the costs of focusing law enforcement on marijuana outweigh its benefits, and may even be counterproductive. This statistical analysis of counties that increased marijuana law enforcement found that property crimes, hard drug crimes, and homicides actually go up when marijuana arrests increase, suggesting that get-tough policies on marijuana may increase other crime, rather than reducing it.
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