Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence on Adult Noncognitive Investments in Liberia

Christopher Blattman, Julian C. Jamison, Margaret Sheridan

NBER Working Paper No. 21204
Issued in May 2015
NBER Program(s):   DEV

We show self control and self image are malleable in adults, and that investments in them reduce crime and violence. We recruited criminally-engaged Liberian men and randomized half to eight weeks of group cognitive behavioral therapy, teaching self control skills and a noncriminal self-image. We also randomized $200 grants. Cash raised incomes and reduced crime in the short-run but effects dissipated within a year. Therapy increased self control and noncriminal values, and acts of crime and violence fell 20--50%. Therapy's impacts lasted at least a year when followed by cash, likely because cash reinforced behavioral changes via prolonged practice.

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An online appendix is available at http://www.nber.org/data-appendix/w21204

Acknowledgments

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w21204