Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series,
Research Institute of Industrial Economics

No 1536: Sentence Length and Recidivism: Court Rulings based on BAC

Joakim Jansson (), Per Petterson-Lidbom (), Mikael Priks () and Björn Tyrefors ()
Additional contact information
Joakim Jansson: Department of Economics and Statistics, Linnaeus University, Postal: and Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Box 55665, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden
Per Petterson-Lidbom: Department of Economics, Stockholm University, Postal: and Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Box 55665, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden
Mikael Priks: Department of Economics, Stockholm University
Björn Tyrefors: Department of Economics, Gothenburg University, Postal: and Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Box 55665, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: We study the effect of prison sentences on recidivism using a unique feature of sentencing for drunk driving in the Swedish court system. Below the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 1.0‰, individuals are never sentenced to prison and above 1.0‰, the average number of days sentenced to prison is essentially linearly increasing with the BAC level. We find that being sentenced to prison for one month reduces reoffending in the next five years by approximately 80 percent.

Keywords: Sentence length; Recidivism; DUI

JEL-codes: C26; K42; R41

Language: English

33 pages, September 18, 2025

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