Replication data for: Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Christopher Blattman; Julian C. Jamison; Margaret Sheridan
Version: View help for Version V2
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Project Citation:
Blattman, Christopher, Jamison, Julian C., and Sheridan, Margaret. Replication data for: Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-12-21. https://doi.org/10.3886/E113056V2
Project Description
Summary:
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We show that a number of noncognitive skills and preferences, including patience and identity, are malleable in adults, and that investments in them reduce crime and violence. We recruited criminally engaged men and randomized one-half to eight weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy designed to foster self-regulation, patience, and a noncriminal identity and lifestyle. We also randomized $200 grants. Cash alone and therapy alone initially reduced crime and violence, but effects dissipated over time. When cash followed therapy, crime and violence decreased dramatically for at least a year. We hypothesize that cash reinforced therapy's impacts by prolonging learning-by doing, lifestyle changes, and self-investment.
Scope of Project
JEL Classification:
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D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
H23 Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
H23 Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
Geographic Coverage:
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Liberia
Time Period(s):
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2009 – 2012
Collection Date(s):
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2009 – 2012
Methodology
Response Rate:
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We approached roughly 1,500 high-risk men, and 999 agreed to enter the study. Of those assigned to therapy, nearly all attended at least one day, and two-thirds completed it. The higher-risk men were the most likely to finish.
We attempted to survey each respondent at baseline, 2 weeks, 5 weeks, 12 months, and 13 months after grants. We ran pairs of surveys (“1 month” and “1 year”) to reduce noise in outcomes with potentially low autocorrelation.
Subjects typically had no fixed address and lived under aliases or clandestinely. By collecting social network and contact information, and through intensive tracking, we located most surviving respondents. We were able to collect data on 92.4% of respondents across all endline surveys. Attrition is relatively unsystematic.
We attempted to survey each respondent at baseline, 2 weeks, 5 weeks, 12 months, and 13 months after grants. We ran pairs of surveys (“1 month” and “1 year”) to reduce noise in outcomes with potentially low autocorrelation.
Subjects typically had no fixed address and lived under aliases or clandestinely. By collecting social network and contact information, and through intensive tracking, we located most surviving respondents. We were able to collect data on 92.4% of respondents across all endline surveys. Attrition is relatively unsystematic.
Sampling:
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The study attempted to recruit 1,500 high-risk men, and 999 agreed to participate. They were age 25 on average. We focused on five mixed-income residential neighborhoods in Monrovia with large populations of high-risk men.
All recruitment was handled by NEPI. In each neighborhood, certain places, groups, and professions had reputations for crime and violence involvement, and recruiters targeted these locations and people.
We tried to minimize general equilibrium effects and spillovers between treatment and control group members. We worked in neighborhoods with tens of thousands of residents, recruiting less than 1 percent of adult men. NEPI recruiters were also instructed to approach just 1 out of every 7-10 potentially high-risk subjects they identified on the street. This avoided more than 10 percent of high risk men being treated in a neighborhood.
For randomisation, we used a 2x2 factorial design. The experiment proceeded as follows. First, following the baseline survey, the respondent was assigned to an offer of therapy by drawing chips from an opaque bag.18 Therapy began one week later. About one to two weeks after therapy ended, GC announced and held a private draw for $200 grants among the full sample, in blocks of roughly 50 men. Finally, a third organization (Innovations for Poverty Action) ran endline surveys 2 and 5 weeks, and then 12 and 13 months, after grants.
All recruitment was handled by NEPI. In each neighborhood, certain places, groups, and professions had reputations for crime and violence involvement, and recruiters targeted these locations and people.
We tried to minimize general equilibrium effects and spillovers between treatment and control group members. We worked in neighborhoods with tens of thousands of residents, recruiting less than 1 percent of adult men. NEPI recruiters were also instructed to approach just 1 out of every 7-10 potentially high-risk subjects they identified on the street. This avoided more than 10 percent of high risk men being treated in a neighborhood.
For randomisation, we used a 2x2 factorial design. The experiment proceeded as follows. First, following the baseline survey, the respondent was assigned to an offer of therapy by drawing chips from an opaque bag.18 Therapy began one week later. About one to two weeks after therapy ended, GC announced and held a private draw for $200 grants among the full sample, in blocks of roughly 50 men. Finally, a third organization (Innovations for Poverty Action) ran endline surveys 2 and 5 weeks, and then 12 and 13 months, after grants.
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