In 1996, a federal welfare reform prohibited convicted drug felons from ever obtaining food stamps. The ban increased recidivism among drug felons. The increase is driven by financially motivated crimes, suggesting that ex-convicts returned to crime to make up for the lost transfer income.

Authored by aeaweb.org and submitted by smurfyjenkins

Abstract I estimate the effect of access to food stamps on criminal recidivism. In 1996, a federal welfare reform imposed a lifetime ban from food stamps on convicted drug felons. Florida modified this ban, restricting it to drug traffickers who commit their offense on or after August 23, 1996. I exploit this sharp cutoff in a regression discontinuity design and find that the ban increases recidivism among drug traffickers. The increase is driven by financially motivated crimes, suggesting that the cut in benefits causes ex-convicts to return to crime to make up for the lost transfer income.

Citation Tuttle, Cody. 2019. "Snapping Back: Food Stamp Bans and Criminal Recidivism." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy , 11 (2): 301-27 . DOI: 10.1257/pol.20170490 Choose Format: BibTeX EndNote Refer/BibIX RIS Tab-Delimited

BolshevikMuppet on May 3rd, 2019 at 14:42 UTC »

There is similar research into the recidivism rates tied to sex offender registration/restrictions.

It does seem to point to the idea that the threat of "don't break the law or you'll go to jail/prison" becomes less effective the more we make someone's life outside of jail/prison not that much better. Essentially, the threat of prison works because life outside of prison is supposed to be so substantially better that even a small amount of time in prison is godawful.

The more we continue to punish people after they've been released, the less the threat of "well you'll have to go back" is effective.

Halvus_I on May 3rd, 2019 at 14:25 UTC »

There is still a federal statute saying if you are convicted of any drug crime, no college money for you.

There are TONS of laws on the books jsut like this. Make a minor mistake, you are branded for life and sent down the wrong path.

Mortlach78 on May 3rd, 2019 at 13:27 UTC »

Punishing people for their past crimes after they served their time is so odd. What was locking them up supposed to mean then? No food stamps, getting work is extremely difficult, no voting, no wonder recidivism is so high.