Objective

This study follows the lead of Makin et al. (Police Quarterly 22(1): 31–55, 2019) who found that marijuana legalization is associated with a marginal increase in clearance rates for some crimes but not for others.

Methods

We build on their work attempting to replicate their findings by using the synthetic control method and fixed-effects models. A 50-state panel data set was constructed and analyzed. The dependent variables were aggregated violence and property crime rates. The independent variable was dichotomously measured recreational marijuana legislation.

Results

Marijuana legalization is not a meaningful avenue of increasing clearance rates.

Conclusion

The synthetic control method is useful for aggregate-level crime policy analysis when experimental methods are not available. The argument that the police would do a better job at reducing serious crime and/or arresting serious criminal offenders if they were not preoccupied with marijuana users is unfounded in this analysis.

中文翻译：

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研究在科罗拉多州和华盛顿州使大麻合法化对清除率的影响：一种准实验设计

目的

这项研究遵循了Makin等人的领导。（警察季刊22（1）：31-55，2019）发现大麻合法化与某些犯罪的清除率略有提高相关，而与其他犯罪无关。

方法

我们基于他们的工作，试图通过使用综合控制方法和固定效果模型来复制他们的发现。构造并分析了50个州的面板数据集。因变量是暴力和财产犯罪率的总和。自变量是二分法测量的休闲大麻立法。

结果

大麻合法化不是提高清除率的有意义途径。

结论

如果没有实验方法，则综合控制方法可用于汇总级别的犯罪政策分析。在这项分析中，没有论据认为警察在不严重吸食大麻的情况下会在减少严重犯罪和/或逮捕严重犯罪者方面做得更好。