Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Reduces Crime and Violence over Ten Years: Experimental Evidence

Abstract

Several small, short-term, or nonexperimental studies show that cognitive behavioral–informed interventions reduce antisocial behaviors over one to two years, but persistence research is rare. We followed 999 high-risk men in Liberia ten years after randomization into eight weeks of low-cost, nonspecialist-led therapy; $200 cash; both; or neither. A decade later, antisocial behaviors (such as robbery and drug selling) fell 0.2 standard deviations from therapy alone—significantly greater than the one-year impacts. Meanwhile, men who received therapy plus cash were 0.25 standard deviations less antisocial—similar to one-year results. In both cases, impacts were concentrated in men exhibiting highest baseline risk. (JEL D91, K42, O15, O17)