"Effect of Syringe Exchange Programs on Local Crime: Evidence from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" (JMP)

Presented at June 2025 Society of Labor Economics Conference and November 2025 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Conference.

Abstract: Syringe exchange programs (SEPs), which provide injection drug users with sterile syringes and a safe disposal site, are persistently controversial because of concerns that they increase drug usage, attract drug users, and increase local crime. I estimate the effect of SEPs on crime, using an event study framework with plausibly exogenous spatial and temporal variation in the rollout and weekly schedule of SEPs in Pittsburgh. I create a dataset of geocoded SEP locations, their initial open dates and weekday of service, then merge this with administrative crime incident reports. I compare census block groups within one mile of an SEP location to those outside of this zone, before and after the location started services, dynamically around the location’s unique weekday of service. I find no evidence of an effect on daily incidents of theft, burglary, robbery or homicide, and my results rule out daily increases in theft as large as 1.87% weekly. Additionally, I find SEPs decrease daily incidents of possession by 8.0% weekly, distribution by 11.5%, and assault by 8.8%. Savings from only aggravated assault exceed total costs of the organization by $132,158 per week.