CP Workshop – Laura Paler

DateApril 25, 2016

Time12:30pm to 2:30pm

Location
4357 Bunche Hall

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Abstract:While there is a growing literature on the determinants of ex-combatant reintegration, few studies have examined why former combatants turn to criminal activity following demobilization. This paper investigates the economic, security, psychological, and social determinants of criminality among demobilized combatants in Colombia. We combine confidential administrative data with original survey data from a representative sample of ex-combatants in and out of prison and employ techniques for eliciting honest responses to sensitive questions on surveys. Our results reveal no support for a predominant explanation that economic vulnerability drives ex-combatants into crime, showing instead a strong relationship between conflict networks and criminality. We also shed light on why conflict networks correlate with crime, finding that they explain both individual and group crime; that ties to both peers and commanders matter; and that status-seeking and susceptibility to pressure are plausible mechanisms. The results provide some of the first quantitative evidence of the relative importance of conflict networks vis-a-vis other explanations for ex-combatant criminality, with important implications for the design of reintegration interventions.

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