Abstract
Punishment should be more effective in deterring crime if it is imposed sooner rather than later because offenders discount more heavily the cost of punishment that is imposed later. I fi nd some empirical evidence supporting this proposition by investigating the impacts of a criminal procedure reform in the Czech Republic. The reform allowed certain less serious offenses to be prosecuted via a simpli ed (fast-track) procedure, which shortened the length of the criminal trials for the eligible crimes by almost two thirds. The share of cases actually prosecuted via the fast-track procedure varied substantially across police districts and offenses, which provides the basis for the identi cation strategy. More intensive adoption of the fast-track procedure had a negative effect on property crimes. I also find evidence of a perverse reallocation of police efforts towards more vigorous enforcement of petty crimes covered by the fast-track.
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