Dr. Jennifer Doleac: What Actually Deters Crime?

Public safety is foundational to strong communities, but too often, the policies we rely on to reduce crime are driven more by intuition than evidence. As Mississippi and states across the country look for ways to build safer neighborhoods, it’s worth asking a simple question: what actually works?

In this episode of The Empower Podcast, host Grant Callen sits down with Dr. Jennifer Doleac, Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures and author of The Science of Second Chances. Dr. Doleac shares how she became an economist focused on criminal justice policy and walks through what decades of research reveal about deterrence, recidivism, and the effectiveness of our current system. The conversation explores why increasing the certainty of consequences matters more than increasing their severity, how simple interventions like text message reminders can reduce failures to appear in court, and why leniency for first-time offenders can actually lead to better long-term outcomes. They also discuss the role of prisons, what rehabilitation should look like, and how policymakers can move beyond ideology to implement solutions that truly reduce crime.

This is a data-driven conversation about how to create safer communities, by focusing not on what sounds tough, but on what actually works.