A Quasi-experimental Impact Evaluation of the “Organized Crime and Homicides Specialized Prosecution Team” in Chile

• In Event: Prosecution in the Making I: Prosecutorial Discretion: Plea Bargaining and Pretrial Detention

Abstract

Recent international reports indicate a transformation in the forms, extent, and magnitude of criminality. This phenomenon is especially evident in Latin American countries, including Chile. This poses a significant challenge for policymakers, who has been starting to develop novel crime control strategies, and for scholars, who has been stating to make research on those initiatives. This study presents the first impact evaluation of a program, developed by the Chilean public prosecutor national office, which uses specialised and multidisciplinary teams for the criminal prosecution of homicides and kidnappings committed by criminal organisations in that country. (ECOH program, by its acronym in Spanish). The objective of this study is to determine, through the implementation of quasi-experimental methodologies (difference-in-differences and matching), whether the intervention of these specialized teams has resulted in an increase in the number of homicide and kidnapping charges. The study will present the magnitude of the program's impact and discuss which components of the program's design may be favouring or hindering the effects of the program. The study will also discuss some policy implications of the findings.

Author

• Carlos Diaz-Guimaraens, Universidad Alberto Hurtado