Tweet: Criminal Learning

LEARNING perspective of criminal justice.
Continuous sanctions reduce arrest rates more than intermittent sanctions.https://t.co/M1ivTdVRy5

— Kiran Johny (@johnywrites) November 17, 2019

Data on punishment and criminal arrests in a total birth cohort of men in Denmark (N = 28,879) were used to test the following hypotheses derived from learning theory:

• (a) The imposition of sanctions reduces rates of subsequent criminal arrest;
• (b) The more severe the sanction received for an arrest, the lower the rate of recidivism;
• (c) Different types of sanctions have similar effects on recidivism;
• (d) The higher the proportion of sanctions received for past arrests, the lower the rates of future arrest;
• (e) Continuous sanctions reduce arrest rates more than intermittent sanctions, and
• (f) Discontinuation of punishment results in the recovery of criminal arrests.

Results suggest that sanctions have similar effects on recidivism regardless of their severity.