An ongoing debate exists about the implications of recreational marijuana legalization to public safety. One important public concern is how recreational marijuana legalization may affect crime in neighboring states that have not legalized. Based on Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data from 2003 to 2017, this study used difference-in-differences (DID) analysis to examine the potential spillover effect of recreational marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington State, with a special focus on the examination of the changes in the rates of a variety of crimes in the border counties of neighboring states relative to the nonborder counties in these states following Colorado’s and Washington’s legalization. Results provide some evidence suggesting a spillover crime reduction effect of legalization, as reflected by the significant decreases in the rates of property crime, larceny, and simple assault in the Colorado region that includes six neighboring states. Results also suggest that the effects of marijuana legalization on crime in neighboring states vary based on crime type and state.

中文翻译：

---

休闲大麻合法化对犯罪的溢出效应：来自科罗拉多州和华盛顿州相邻州的证据

关于休闲大麻合法化对公共安全的影响，存在持续的争论。一个重要的公众关注是休闲大麻合法化如何影响尚未合法化的邻国的犯罪活动。本研究基于 2003 年至 2017 年的统一犯罪报告 (UCR) 数据，使用差异中的差异 (DID) 分析来检验休闲大麻合法化在科罗拉多州和华盛顿州的潜在溢出效应，特别关注科罗拉多州和华盛顿州合法化后，邻州边境县的各种犯罪率相对于这些州的非边境县的变化。结果提供了一些证据，表明合法化具有减少犯罪的溢出效应，这反映在包括六个邻州在内的科罗拉多地区的财产犯罪、盗窃和简单袭击的发生率显着下降。结果还表明，大麻合法化对邻州犯罪的影响因犯罪类型和州而异。