American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
State Recreational Cannabis Laws and Racial Disparities in the Criminal Legal System
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
(pp. 346–74)
Abstract
We estimate the direct and spillover effects of cannabis legalization on longstanding racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes. We find that legalization reduces cannabis possession and sales arrests for White and Black populations, narrowing but not eliminating disparities. We also find spillover increases in hospitalizations involving cannabis and other illegal drugs. However, spillovers on arrests, incarcerations, and crimes involving serious violent or property offenses are insignificant or even decrease. Other illegal drug sales arrests decrease across populations, while illegal drug incarcerations decrease only among White populations. Spillovers on other low-level offenses are insignificant for White but mixed for Black populations.Citation
Meinhofer, Angélica, Adrian Rubli, and Jamein P. Cunningham. 2026. "State Recreational Cannabis Laws and Racial Disparities in the Criminal Legal System." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 18 (2): 346–74. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230670Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- K14 Criminal Law
- K41 Litigation Process
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law