Crime, Leniency, and the Science of Second Chances

About this episode

Jen Doleac discusses her book on criminal justice reform and the science behind reducing reoffending.

Jen Doleac is an economist and the director of the Criminal Justice program at Arnold Ventures. She joins Cardiff on the show to chat about her upcoming new book, “The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice”.  From the book jacket:  Freakonomics for criminal justice, The Science of Second Chances presents a groundbreaking approach to criminal justice reform, revealing how small-scale interventions can reduce people’s chances of reoffending and break the incarceration cycle…  Drawing on cutting-edge economic research and real-world experiments, the book presents a blueprint for reform that runs all the way through the system. Doleac shows how economists like herself approach big, complicated problems as if they were scientists in a lab, carefully testing different approaches and following the data to maximize impact. She explains how shifting the incentives people face can produce dramatic changes in the decisions they make, significantly reducing the number of people cycling through the prison system.  Jen and Cardiff discuss the unique approach and contributions of economists to understanding the criminal justice system, why erring…

People in this episode

Host: Cardiff

Guest: Jen Doleac

Topics covered

• criminal justice reform
• economics
• recidivism
• leniency
• incentives
• prison system

Keywords

• criminal justice
• second chances
• recidivism
• economic research
• prison reform
• leniency
• incentives

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Arnold Ventures

Books & works: The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice, Freakonomics

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