"How Does the State Replace the Community? Experimental Evidence on Crime Control from South Africa”
Speaker: Anna Wilke, Political Science Department
Throughout the developing world, citizens often hesitate to bring crimes to the attention of the state. In many contexts, victims of crime instead turn to their community – family, friends, and neighbors – who brutally punish or even kill criminal suspects. Wilke's research is set in South Africa where vigilantism of this kind causes an average of two deaths every day. Drawing on evidence from a randomized control trial, she explores how citizens’ willingness to take the law into their own hands is shaped by the capacity of law enforcement institutions like the police.
Graduate Scholar Talks provide Ph.D. candidates preparing to defend their dissertations an opportunity to make a generalist presentation on their research to a cross-disciplinary audience ready to listen carefully and ask good questions. EPIC members help give the Ph.D. students a useful learning experience and at the same time learn about something that may be well beyond their own scholarly interests.
