TY - JOUR
T1 - The economics of rights
T2 - Does the right to counsel increase crime?
AU - Ater, Itai
AU - Givati, Yehonatan
AU - Rigbi, Oren
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the German-Israel Foundation (grant I-2379-118.4/2014), the Israel Science Foundation (grant 8745981), the Sapir Center at Tel Aviv University, and Hebrew University's Center for Empirical Legal Studies of Decision Making and the Law for financial support.
PY - 2017/5/1
Y1 - 2017/5/1
N2 - We examine the broad consequences of the right to counsel by exploiting a legal reform in Israel that extended the right to publicly provided legal counsel to suspects in arrest proceedings. Using the staggered regional rollout of the reform, we find that the reform reduced arrest duration and the likelihood of arrestees being charged. We also find that the reform reduced the number of arrests made by the police. Lastly, we find that the reform increased crime. These findings indicate that the right to counsel improves suspects' situation, but discourages the police from making arrests, which results in higher crime.
AB - We examine the broad consequences of the right to counsel by exploiting a legal reform in Israel that extended the right to publicly provided legal counsel to suspects in arrest proceedings. Using the staggered regional rollout of the reform, we find that the reform reduced arrest duration and the likelihood of arrestees being charged. We also find that the reform reduced the number of arrests made by the police. Lastly, we find that the reform increased crime. These findings indicate that the right to counsel improves suspects' situation, but discourages the police from making arrests, which results in higher crime.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018430200&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1257/pol.20160027
DO - 10.1257/pol.20160027
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85018430200
SN - 1945-7731
VL - 9
SP - 1
EP - 27
JO - American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
JF - American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
IS - 2
ER -
