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There Goes the Neighborhood? Estimates of the Impact of Crime Risk on Property Values From Megan's Laws

Author

Listed:
  • Leigh L. Linden
  • Jonah E. Rockoff
Abstract
We combine data from the housing market with data from the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry to estimate how individuals value living in close proximity to a convicted criminal. We use the exact location of sex offenders to exploit variation in the threat of crime within small homogenous groupings of homes, and we use the timing of sex offenders' arrivals to control for baseline property values in the area. We find statistically and economically significant negative effects of sex offenders' locations that are extremely localized. Houses within a one-tenth mile area around the home of a sex offender fall by 4 percent on average (about $5,500). We also find evidence that the effect varies with distance within this range -- houses next to an offender sell for about 12 percent less while those a tenth of a mile away or more show no decline. We combine our willingness-to-pay estimates with data on sexual crimes against neighbors to estimate the costs to victims of sexual offenses. We estimate costs of over $1 million per victim -- far in excess of estimates taken from the criminal justice literature. However, we cannot reject the alternative hypotheses that individuals overestimate the risk posed by offenders or view living near an offender as having costs exclusive of crime risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Leigh L. Linden & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2006. "There Goes the Neighborhood? Estimates of the Impact of Crime Risk on Property Values From Megan's Laws," NBER Working Papers 12253, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12253
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Francesca Cornaglia & Naomi E. Feldman & Andrew Leigh, 2014. "Crime and Mental Well-Being," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(1), pages 110-140.
    2. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Sinning, Mathias G., 2011. "Neighborhood diversity and the appreciation of native- and immigrant-owned homes," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 214-226, May.
    3. David H. Autor & Christopher J. Palmer & Parag A. Pathak, 2014. "Housing Market Spillovers: Evidence from the End of Rent Control in Cambridge, Massachusetts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(3), pages 661-717.
    4. Redfearn, Christian L., 2009. "How informative are average effects? Hedonic regression and amenity capitalization in complex urban housing markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 297-306, May.
    5. Amanda Y. Agan & J.J. Prescott, 2014. "Sex Offender Law and the Geography of Victimization," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 786-828, December.
    6. J.J. Prescott & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2008. "Do Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws Affect Criminal Behavior?," NBER Working Papers 13803, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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