Publications

A full list is also available on Google Scholar. For the most current working papers, see also the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

Books and Edited Volumes

• Gonzales, Roberto G., and Steven Raphael (editors). Undocumented Immigrants and Their Experience with Illegality. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 3(4), 2017.
• Raphael, Steven. The New Scarlet Letter? Negotiating the U.S. Labor Market with a Criminal Record. W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI, 2014.
• Raphael, Steven, and Michael Stoll. Why Are So Many Americans in Prison? Russell Sage Foundation, 2013.
• Card, David, and Steven Raphael (editors). Immigration, Poverty, and Socioeconomic Inequality. Russell Sage Foundation, 2013.
• Raphael, Steven, and Michael Stoll (editors). Do Prisons Make Us Safer? The Benefits and Costs of the Prison Boom. Russell Sage Foundation, 2009.

Recent and Selected Journal Articles

• Ronconi, Lucas, and Steven Raphael. "Measuring Effective Labour Regulation in the Less Developed World: Recent Advances and Challenges Ahead." Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal 46, no. 1 (2026): 7–33.
• Bushway, Shawn, Andrew Jordan, Derek Neal, and Steven Raphael. "Understanding Race Disparities in Criminal Court Outcomes." RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 11, no. 3 (2025): 86–135.
• Lacoe, Johanna, Brett Fischer, and Steven Raphael. "The Effect of a Pre-Arraignment Legal Representation Pilot on Pretrial Release and Criminal Case Outcomes." Journal of Quantitative Criminology 41, no. 2 (2025): 269–291.
• Raphael, Steven. "Employment Challenges Faced by People with Criminal Histories." Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 181, no. 1 (2025): 44–71.
• Shem-Tov, Yotam, Steven Raphael, and Alissa Skog. "Can Restorative Justice Conferencing Reduce Recidivism? Evidence From the Make-it-Right Program." Econometrica 92, no. 1 (2024): 61–78.
• Ben-Michael, Eli, David Arbour, Avi Feller, Alexander Franks, and Steven Raphael. "Estimating the Effects of a California Gun Control Program with Multitask Gaussian Processes." The Annals of Applied Statistics 17, no. 2 (2023): 985–1016.
• Raphael, Steven, and Daniel Schneider. "Introduction: The Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19." RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 9, no. 3 (2023): 1–30.
• Augustine, Elsa, Johanna Lacoe, Steven Raphael, and Alissa Skog. "The Impact of Felony Diversion in San Francisco." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 41, no. 3 (2022): 683–709.
• Dominguez, Patricio, Magnus Lofstrom, and Steven Raphael. "Decarceration and Crime: California's Experience." In A Modern Guide to the Economics of Crime, 88–134. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022.
• Rozo, Sandra, Theresa Anders, and Steven Raphael. "Deportation, Crime, and Victimization." Journal of Population Economics 34, no. 1 (2021): 141–166.
• Raphael, Steven. "The Intended and Unintended Consequences of Ban-the-Box." Annual Review of Criminology 4 (2021): 191–207.
• Lofstrom, Magnus, Brandon Martin, and Steven Raphael. "The Effect of Sentencing Reform on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Involvement with the Criminal Justice System: The Case of California's Proposition 47." Criminology & Public Policy 19, no. 4 (2020): 1165–1207.
• MacDonald, John, and Steven Raphael. "The Effect of Scaling Back Punishment on Racial Disparities in Criminal Case Outcomes." Criminology & Public Policy 19, no. 4 (2020): 1139–1164.
• Raphael, Steven, and Sandra Rozo. "Racial Disparities in the Acquisition of Juvenile Arrest Records." Journal of Labor Economics 37, no. S1 (2019): S125–S159.
• Weisburd, David, et al. "Proactive Policing: A Summary of the Report of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering." Asian Journal of Criminology 14, no. 2 (2019): 145–177.
• Lofstrom, Magnus, and Steven Raphael. "Crime, the Criminal Justice System, and Socioeconomic Inequality." Journal of Economic Perspectives 30, no. 2 (2016): 103–126.
• Lofstrom, Magnus, and Steven Raphael. "Incarceration and Crime: Evidence from California's Public Safety Realignment." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 664, no. 1 (2016): 196–220.
• Buonanno, Paolo, and Steven Raphael. "Incarceration and Incapacitation: Evidence from the 2006 Italian Collective Pardon." American Economic Review 103, no. 6 (2013): 2437–2465.
• Raphael, Steven, and Michael Stoll. "Assessing the Contribution of the Deinstitutionalization of the Mentally Ill to Growth in the U.S. Incarceration Rate." Journal of Legal Studies 42, no. 1 (2013): 187–222.
• Johnson, Rucker, and Steven Raphael. "How Much Crime Reduction Does the Marginal Prisoner Buy?" Journal of Law and Economics 55, no. 2 (2012): 275–310.
• Johnson, Rucker, and Steven Raphael. "The Effect of Male Incarceration Dynamics on AIDS Infection Rates Among African-American Women and Men." Journal of Law and Economics 52, no. 2 (2009): 251–293.
• Holzer, Harry, Steven Raphael, and Michael Stoll. "Perceived Criminality, Criminal Background Checks and the Racial Hiring Practices of Employers." Journal of Law and Economics 49, no. 2 (2006): 451–480.
• Quigley, John, and Steven Raphael. "Is Housing Unaffordable? Why Isn't It More Affordable?" Journal of Economic Perspectives 18, no. 1 (2004): 191–214.
• Raphael, Steven, and Rudolf Winter-Ebmer. "Identifying the Effect of Unemployment on Crime." Journal of Law and Economics 44, no. 1 (2001): 259–284.
• Gaviria, Alejandro, and Steven Raphael. "School-Based Peer Effects and Juvenile Behavior." Review of Economics and Statistics 83, no. 2 (2001): 257–268.

For a complete list of journal articles, book chapters, and monographs, see the CV.

Policy Reports

• Bird, Mia, Omair Gill, Johanna Lacoe, Molly Pickard, Steven Raphael, and Alissa Skog. Three Strikes in California. California Policy Lab, UC Berkeley, 2022.
• Lofstrom, Magnus, Brandon Martin, and Steven Raphael. Proposition 47's Impact on Racial Disparity in Criminal Justice Outcomes. Public Policy Institute of California, 2020.
• Raphael, Steven, and Michael Stoll. A New Approach to Reducing Incarceration While Maintaining Low Rates of Crime. The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution, 2014.
• Lofstrom, Magnus, and Steven Raphael. Public Safety Realignment and Crime Rates in California. Public Policy Institute of California, 2013.

Selected Working Papers

• Liévano, Maura, and Steven Raphael. "The Effect of Redeploying Police Officers from Plain Clothes Special Assignment to Uniformed Foot Beat Patrols on Street Crime." California Policy Lab Report, UC Berkeley, 2018.
• Davidson, Janet, George King, Jens Ludwig, and Steven Raphael. "Managing Pretrial Misconduct: An Experimental Evaluation of HOPE Pretrial." GSPP Working Paper, 2018.
• Raphael, Steven, and Sarah Tahamont. "The Effect of Mandatory Minimum Punishments on the Efficiency of Criminal Justice Resource Allocation." GSPP Working Paper, UC Berkeley, 2016.