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Emily Owens

UCI School of Social Ecology

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Research

 

Publications

“Specialization in Criminal Courts: Decision Making, Recidivism, and Re-victimization in Domestic Violence Courts in Tennessee”(with Aria Golestani and Kerri Raissian) Journal of Human Resources forthcoming

“Can Text Messages Reduce Incarceration in Rural and Vulnerable Populations?” (with CarlyWill Sloan) Journal of Policy Analysis and Management forthcoming

“Economic Booms and Recidivism” (with Ozkan Eren) Journal of Quantitative Criminology forthcoming

“Smartphone Data Reveal Neighborhood-Level Racial Disparities in Police Presence” (with M. Keith Chen, Katherine L. Christensen, Elicia John, and Yilin Zhuo) Review of Economics and Statistics forthcoming Online Appendix

“The Geography of Crime and Policing” (with Matthew Freedman and Derek Christopher) 2022 in Paolo Buonanno, Paolo Vanin, and Juan Vargas [Eds.] A Modern Guide to the Economics of Crime. Edward Elgar

“The Economics of Policing and Public Safety” (with Bocar Ba) Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2021, 35(4) 3-28

“The Economics of Policing”, in Dave Marcotte and Klaus Zimmermann [Eds.] Economics of Risky Behavior, 2020, Springer. 1-30.

“Is Your Lawyer a Lemon? Incentives and Selection in the Public Provision of Criminal Defense” (with Amanda Agan and Matthew Freedman), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2021, 103 (2): 294–309.

“An Economic Approach to De-Policing”,” Criminology and Public Policy, 2019, 1-4.

“The Effectiveness and Effects of Alcohol Regulation: Evidence from India”,”(With Dara Lee Luca and Gunjan Sharma) IZA Journal of Development and Migration, 2019, 9-4.

“Immigration, Employment Opportunities, and Criminal Behavior”,” (with Sarah Bohn and Matthew Freedman), American Economic Journal – Economic Policy, 2018, 10(2):117-51. Wharton Public Policy Brief. American Economic Association Research Highlight.

“Can You Build a Better Cop? Experimental Evidence on Supervision, Training, and Policing in the Community”,” (with David Weisburd, Karen Amendola, and Geoffrey Alpert), Criminology and Public Policy, 2018, 17(1):41-87

“Testing the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2017, 36(1): 11-37. JPAM Featured Article. “Top 20 most downloaded JPAM paper, 2016-2017”

“Your Friends and Neighbors: Localized Economic Development, Inequality, and Criminal Behavior” (with Matthew Freedman), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2016, 98(2): 233-253.

“The Criminal Justice Response to Policy Interventions: Evidence from Immigration Reform” (with Sarah Bohn and Matthew Freedman), American Economic Review – Papers and Proceedings, 2015, 105(5): 214-219.

“Can Alcohol Prohibition Reduce Violence Against Women?” (with Dara Lee Luca and Gunjan Sharma), American Economic Review – Papers and Proceedings, 2015, 105(5): 625-629.

“The American Temperance Movement and Market-Based Violence,” American Law and Economics Review, 2014, 16(2): 433-472.

“Does Federal Financial Aid Affect College Enrollment? Evidence from Drug Offenders and the Higher Education Act of 1998″ (with Michael Lovenheim), Journal of Urban Economics, 2014, 81: 1-13.

“Framing Punishment: Incarceration, Recommended Sentences, and Recidivism” (with Shawn Bushway), Journal of Law and Economics, 2013, 56(2): 301-331.

“Immigration and Informal Labor” (with Sarah Bohn), Industrial Relations, 2012, 51(4): 845-837.

“COPS and Cuffs,” in Philip Cook, Stephen Machin, Olivier Marie, and Giovanni Mastrobouni [Eds.] Lessons from the Economics of Crime: What Works in Reducing Offending?, 2013, Cambridge: MIT Press: 17-44.

“Using Regression Discontinuity Designs in Crime Research” (with Jens Ludwig), in Brandon C. Welsh, Anthony A. Braga, and Gerber J.N. Bruinsma [Eds.] Experimental Criminology: Prospects for Advancing Science and Public Policy, 2013, New York: Cambridge University Press: 194-222.

“Sentencing Guidelines and Judicial Discretion” (with Shawn Bushway and Anne Piehl), Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 2012, 9(2): 291-319.

“Truthiness-in-Punishment: The Far Reach of Truth in Sentencing Laws,” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies: Judgment by the Numbers – Converting Qualitative to Quantitative Judgments in Law, 2011, 8(S1): 239-261.

“Low Income Housing Development and Crime” (with Matthew Freedman), Journal of Urban Economics, 2011, 70(2-3): 115-131.

“Are Underground Markets Really More Violent? Evidence from Early 20th Century America,” American Law and Economics Review, 2011, 13(1): 1–44.

“One for the Road: Public Transportation, Alcohol Consumption, and Intoxicated Driving” (with C. Kirabo Jackson), Journal of Public Economics, 2010, 52(1): 106-121.

“More Time, Less Crime? Estimating the Incapacitative Effect of Sentence Enhancements,” Journal of Law and Economics, 2009, 52(3): 551-579.

“COPS and Crime” (with William N. Evans), Journal of Public Economics, 2007, 91(1-2): 181-201.

   COPS and Crime Data Cleaning Appendix

 

Reports

“Police Strategies to Control High-Level Corruption: a Global Perspective” (committee member) Lawrence Sherman and Julie Ann Schuck [eds.] Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2022

“Developing Policing Practices that Build Legitimacy” (committee member) Lawrence Sherman and Julie Ann Schuck [eds.] Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2022

“Policies and Practices to Minimize the Use of Force Internationally” (committee member) Lawrence Sherman and Julie Ann Schuck [eds.] Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2022

“Police Training to Promote the Rule of Law and Protect the Population” (committee member) Lawrence Sherman and Julie Ann Schuck [eds.] Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2022

“Policing to Promote the Rule of Law and Protect the Population: An Evidence-Based Approach” (committee member) Lawrence Sherman and Julie Ann Schuck [eds.] Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2021

“The California Highway Patrol: An Evaluation of Public Contacts in Stop Data” (with Jaclyn Rosenquist) California Policy Lab Summary Report, 2021

“RIPA in the Los Angeles Police Department” (with Jaclyn Rosenquist) California Policy Lab Summary Report, 2020

“Proactive Policing: Effects on Crime and Communities” (committee member) David Weisburd and Malay Majmundar [eds.] Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2018.

“Examining Racial Disparities in Criminal Case Outcomes among Indigent Defendants in San Francisco,” (with Erin Kerrison and Bernardo Santos Da Silveira), Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice, 2017.
summary report

“Understanding the U.S. Illicit Tobacco Market: Characteristics, Policy Context, and Lessons from International Experiences” (committee member) Peter Reuter and Malay Majmundar [eds.] Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2015.

 

Working Papers and Work in Progress

“Does Black and Blue Matter? An Experimental Investigation of Race, Perceptions of Police, and Legal Compliance” (with Mackenzie Alston) 2025

Experiment Screenshots

“Does Neighborhood Investment Actually Affect Crime? New Evidence from LIHTC and Smartphone-based Measures of Policing” (with Yilin Zhou and M. Keith Chen) 2025

“Electronic Surveillance in Immigration Court: Evidence from the CalGang Database” (with Ana Muñiz) 2021

“How Valuable are Civil Liberties? Evidence from Gang Injunctions and Housing Prices in Southern California”(with Michelle Mioduszewski and Christopher Bates) 2021.

 

 

Primary Sidebar

Links

• 2022 Transatlantic Workshop on the Economics of Crime - Milan

• Department of Criminology, Law, and Society
• Department of Economics

• California Policy Lab
• Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice
• National Policing Institute

Recent Media

• Slow Down, Officer: An Experiment in ‘Building a Better Cop’ (The Crime Report)

Emily Owens

Criminology, Law and Society
School of Social Ecology
University of California Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697
egowens@uci.edu

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