Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia

2017/03/30 by Christopher Blattman, Julian Jamison, Margaret A. Sheridan · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · Decision Sciences · #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics

paper · doi:10.1257/aer.20150503

openalex publication_date 2017/03/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27

Abstract

We show that a number of noncognitive skills and preferences, including patience and identity, are malleable in adults, and that investments in them reduce crime and violence. We recruited criminally engaged men and randomized one-half to eight weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy designed to foster self-regulation, patience, and a noncriminal identity and lifestyle. We also randomized 200 grants. Cash alone and therapy alone initially reduced crime and violence, but effects dissipated over time. When cash followed therapy, crime and violence decreased dramatically for at least a year. We hypothesize that cash reinforced therapy's impacts by prolonging learning-by-doing, lifestyle changes, and self-investment.

Citations

• A meta-analysis of the convergent validity of self-control measures
• Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit–S)
• Economics and Identity*
• Generating Skilled Self-Employment in Developing Countries: Experimental Evidence from Uganda*
• Cash Transfers and Temptation Goods

Cited by

• The Ethics of Defunding the Police

Discussions

• Direct cash payments also have major secondary effects in addition to making negotiations more balanced like reducing crime. In the following study one of the groups received cash without therapy and [bsky, 0 points, 1 comments]