Learning about others’ incarceration experience and punitive attitudes (follow-up)

Last registered on August 10, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Learning about others’ incarceration experience and punitive attitudes (follow-up)
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011889
Initial registration date
August 03, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
August 10, 2023, 1:20 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Switzerland
Region
German-speaking Cantons

Primary Investigator

Name
Michel Marechal
Affiliation
University of Zurich
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Andreas Beerli
PI Affiliation
ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Aljosha Henkel
PI Affiliation
ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Arto Arman
PI Affiliation
University of Zurich, Department of Economics
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-08-04
End date
2023-09-14
Keywords
Behavior, Crime, Violence, & Conflict
Additional Keywords
prison, jail, punitive attitudes, trust in institutions, procedural fairness, pain of incarceration, RCT
JEL code(s)
K10, K42
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
This is a follow-up study to AEARCTR-0011726. We re-invite subjects from the original study for an obfuscated one-month follow-up survey to test whether learning about others’ prison experience has a persistent effect on public attitudes towards law and order.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Arman, Arto et al. 2023. "Learning about others’ incarceration experience and punitive attitudes (follow-up)." AEA RCT Registry. August 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11889-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
See below.
Intervention Start Date
2023-08-04
Intervention End Date
2023-09-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Preference for law and order: We will compute an index by extracting the first principal component using PCA from the following two survey questions capturing people’s attitudes towards law and order:
(1) Agreement (on a scale from 0 to 6) to the following statement (reverse-coded): “In the correctional system, there should be a stronger focus on reintegration into society than on punishing criminals.”
(2) Agreement (on a scale from 0 to 6) to the following statement: “Prison conditions in Switzerland should be made stricter (e.g., longer prison sentences, less therapy/entertainment, etc.).”
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
None
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants:
The panel provider Cint will re-invite all subjects from the original study AEARCTR-0011726, except those from the observational sample who were not randomized into either the treatment or the control condition. To obfuscate the follow-up survey and reduce demand effects, the survey is framed more generally as a survey of political attitudes, rather than attitudes towards the justice system. We achieve this by embedding our two main survey questions on attitudes towards law and order in a larger battery of survey questions about attitudes to major political topics (environmental protection, immigration, gender equality, and redistributive policy). We further obfuscate the link between the original and follow-up survey by changing the survey’s look and feel and by changing the university that is endorsing the survey (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich instead of the University of Zurich).

Treatments:
All participants receive the same follow-up survey. See AEARCTR-0011726 for a description of the treatment and control group in the original survey. Cint will provide anonymous subject IDs to match the participants across surveys.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
See AEARCTR-0011726
Randomization Unit
See AEARCTR-0011726
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
-
Sample size: planned number of observations
We reinvite all subjects who completed the original survey (AEARCTR-0011726) except those who were not randomized and assigned to the observational group. This corresponds to a sample of 996 potential participants. We expect the final sample size of the follow-up survey to be lower due to survey attrition.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
In the original study the sample size by treatment arm was as follows:
• Control: 497
• Treatment: 499
We expect the final sample sizes to be lower due to survey attrition.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Human Subjects Committee of the Faculty of Economics, Business Administration, and Information Technology, University of Zurich
IRB Approval Date
2023-07-27
IRB Approval Number
OEC IRB # 2023-072
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials