title: Juvenile Law and Recidivism in Germany – New Evidence from the Old Continent
creator: Pichler, Stefan
creator: Römer, Daniel
subject: ddc-330
subject: 330 Economics
description: In this paper, we analyze the effect of the criminal justice system on juvenile recidivism. Using a unique sample of German inmates, we are able to disentangle the selection into criminal and juvenile law from the subsequent recidivism decision of the inmate. We base our identification strategy on two distinct methods. First, we jointly estimate selection and recidivism in a bivariate probit model. In a second step, we use a discontinuity in law assignment created by German legislation and apply a (fuzzy) regression discontinuity design. In contrast to the bulk of the literature, which mainly relies on US data, we do not find that the application of criminal law increases juvenile recidivism. Rather, our results suggest that sentencing adolescents as adults reduces recidivism in Germany.
date: 2011
type: Working paper
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/workingPaper
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
identifier: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserverhttps://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/12805/1/pichler_roemer_2011_dp519.pdf
identifier: DOI:10.11588/heidok.00012805
identifier: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-128050
identifier:   Pichler, Stefan ; Römer, Daniel  (2011) Juvenile Law and Recidivism in Germany – New Evidence from the Old Continent.  [Working paper]     
relation: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/12805/
rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/help/license_urhg.html
language: eng