October 20 - 21, 2026

Graduate Center Masterclasses

The Economics of Crime and Criminal Justice

Date

October 20 - 21, 2026

20.10.: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2-3:30 p.m.

21.10.: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Location

Karl Popper Room
DIW Berlin
Room 2.3.020
Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Strasse 58
10117 Berlin

Speakers

Randi Hjalmarsson (University of Gothenburg)
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The economics of crime literature dates back primarily to Becker’s (1968) economic model of crime, which put forward a theory of rational individual decision making to explain when individuals commit crime and the optimal level of crime in society. In the early-mid 1990s, an empirical literature took off – largely taking advantage of aggregate data and panel data methods – to test the economic model of crime: does higher probability of punishment deter crime? Does harsher punishment deter crime?

This literature has exploded in the last 15 years, with both increased attention by economists to understand the causes of criminal behavior, the advancement of quasi-experimental research designs capable of convincingly answering these questions, and the increased availability of high-quality micro-level data.  These lectures aim to survey the existing literature on a selected set of sub-questions and highlight both how the field has evolved  – in terms of questions, data used, and methodology - and where the frontier is today.

Course Outline

The preliminary set of topics to be covered include:

  1. Overview of economic model of crime and probability/severity of punishment
  2. The black box of prison
  3. Biases in jury decision making
  4. Social policies as crime control
  5. The labor market for workers with criminal records.

Please note that this is far from an exhaustive list of sub-topics in the economics of crime. With an unlimited amount of lecture time, we would also have (at least) the following subsections: police, juveniles, guns, drug markets, immigration, peers and networks, abortion, health and healthcare. 

About the speaker

Randi Hjalmarsson received her PhD in economics from Yale University in 2005. She was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, School of Public Policy from 2005 to 2009, a lecturer and Professor at Queen Mary University of London from 2010-2013. She has since settled in Sweden, and is currently Professor of Economics at the University of Gothenburg.

She has done extensive research on the economics of crime and the criminal justice system. Her current research emphasizes (i) the determinants of crime, including education, military service and the role of the family, neighborhood and peers), (ii) the impact of jury composition on trial verdicts and sentences and the dynamics of jury decision making, and (iii) racial biases in the criminal justice system. Previously, she has studied the effects of prison, the death penalty, and gun shows on crime. Her work has been published in leading academic journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, and The Economic Journal. Her research has been funded, in part, by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Swedish Research Council's Distinguished Young Researchers Program.

Registration and Credit Points

This masterclass is suitable for interested researchers, in particular PhD students and Postdocs. Participation is free. If you want to join this masterclass, please register with the Graduate Center team on a first-come, first-served basis: gradcenter@diw.de

We award 2 credit points for the successful completion of the masterclass.

Topics: Crime

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