Descrizione del progetto
Indagine sul rapporto tra criminalità e disuguaglianza economica
Le disuguaglianze di opportunità (nel mercato del lavoro, nell’assistenza sanitaria, nell’esposizione alla polizia) hanno un impatto sulla probabilità di interagire con il sistema giudiziario. Allo stesso tempo, la presenza di precedenti penali e/o di una condanna al carcere può esacerbare queste disuguaglianze, sia per gli autori del reato che per le loro famiglie. Finanziato dal Consiglio europeo della ricerca, il progetto POLICE-PRISONS-FIRMS studierà i pregiudizi nelle decisioni della polizia e l’impatto della formazione in materia di pregiudizi impliciti nel contesto degli Stati Uniti e del Regno Unito. Nel contesto svedese, verranno studiati (i) le ripercussioni indesiderate delle riforme che hanno ampliato le pene detentive e introdotto il monitoraggio elettronico, (ii) gli effetti del trattamento sanitario in carcere sulla salute e sul comportamento criminale del condannato e (iii) le opportunità di lavoro per le persone con precedenti penali.
Obiettivo
Economic inequality across the population implies vastly unequal opportunities in many dimensions that can impact an individual’s chance of entering the justice system. One such channel via which this can occur – even holding criminal behavior constant – is unequal treatment by agents of the justice system (e.g. police). The consequences of such partiality is not trivial: once in the system, it is hard to get out. And to the extent that convictions and sanctions result in worse outcomes (e.g. employment) for offenders and/or family members, the cycle of crime and economic inequality will perpetuate for current and future generations. This program pushes forward the evidence base on three channels (police, prisons, firms) through which this cycle can be broken.
Part 1 aims to measure and study the adoption of implicit bias training programs by police agencies. Despite such programs being a go-to response of agencies accused of bias, there is almost no knowledge on how/whether they impact officer behavior.
Part 2 addresses the knowledge gap on ‘what (specifically) works’ in prison. First, we will study the unintended impacts of two Swedish sanction reforms onto untreated populations. (i) Does more time in prison have spill-over effects for family members? (ii) Did the introduction of electronic monitoring impact the conditions and outcomes of ineligible offenders left behind in prison? Second, we will open the black-box of prison healthcare to study how in-prison treatment (diagnoses, medication, vaccines, programs) impacts post-release health, medication adherence, and crime.
Part 3 aims to further our understanding of the employment opportunities – or lack thereof – for workers with criminal records (WCR). We will use Swedish registers to study (i) the extent to which WCR are sorted across firms and the determinants of a firm’s demand for WCR, (ii) selection of WCR into self-employment, and (iii) how an offender’s social networks impact firm hiring decisions.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsIstituzione ospitante
405 30 Goeteborg
Svezia