environment. Using geocoded crime data and a novel source of within-city spatial and temporal variation in punishment severity, I … consistent with police treating enforcement effort and punishment severity as complementary. I also find that citywide crime and … punishment and suggests that certain types enforcement can be reduced without incurring large public safety costs …

This paper evaluates the effect on crime of creating a fundamental modern-day institution: centralized professional … police forces tasked with preventing crime. We study the 1829 formation of the London Metropolitan Police - the first … professional force worldwide. Using newly digitized and geocoded crime and police data together with difference-indifferences and …

likelihood of future criminal justice involvement fell, with no apparent increase in local crime rates. …