Replication files for, "When Does Crime Respond to Punishment?: Evidence from Drug-Free School Zones."

Economic theory suggests that crime should respond to punishment severity. However, empirical evidence on this link is ambiguous. We propose one explanation for this
discrepancy: Punishments deter crime but only when the probability of detection is
moderate. Using increases in punishment severity in drug-free school zones along with
changes in the probability of detection resulting from a community crime-monitoring
program, we demonstrate that drug-related crime drops in blocks just within the drug-
free school zones, where punishments are more severe, but only if the monitoring
intensity–and hence the probability of detection–is at intermediate levels.