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The Deterrent Effect of Targeted and Salient Police Enforcement: Evidence from Bans on Checkpoints for Driving under the Influence

Kyutaro Matsuzawa

The Journal of Law and Economics2025https://doi.org/10.1086/732666article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.41

Abstract

I estimate the causal effect of checkpoints for driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol (DUI) on traffic fatalities, DUI arrests, and self-reported incidents of DUI. Exploiting quasi-random variation in state-level laws that ban checkpoints for DUI, I find a 12.4 percent increase in DUI-related traffic fatalities within the first 5 years following a DUI checkpoint ban. I also find a persistent increase in DUI arrests and a short-run increase in self-reported DUI behavior. Together, these findings suggest that targeted, salient police enforcement has a general deterrent effect on dangerous driving. Furthermore, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that a federal ban on DUI checkpoints would lead to an annual cost of approximately $6.4 billion in terms of lives lost from DUI incidents.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/732666

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@article{kyutaro2025,
  title        = {{The Deterrent Effect of Targeted and Salient Police Enforcement: Evidence from Bans on Checkpoints for Driving under the Influence}},
  author       = {Kyutaro Matsuzawa},
  journal      = {The Journal of Law and Economics},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/732666},
}

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Evidence weight

0.41

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.