NCJ Number
77595
Date Published
1981
Length
261 pages
Annotation
Written primarily as a text for criminology and sociology courses, this book presents criminal law and justice from an economist's perspective.
Abstract
Basic principles of economics are presented in the opening chapter, followed by an examination of their application to both legal and illegal markets, such as prostitution, drugs, and gambling. The economic consequences of legalizing some aspects of these currently illegal supply and demand transactions are considered. Beyond the standard type of supply-and-demand economics, however, is a set of economic ideas that can help explain why people commit crime and how best to counter such behavior. Economic incentives and risks are discussed for property crime in general, white-collar crime, and organized crime, followed by a chapter on economic conditions and crime rates. The criminal justice system is considered from the perspective of allocating scarce public revenues for criminal justice budgets, and the trade-offs involved in trying to make the system fair to all citizens are identified. Attention is given to victimization and the costs of crime, equity versus efficiency in criminal justice processing, and whether the neighborhood police patrol is worth the cost. Topics considered in the areas of courts and corrections are bail, plea bargaining, the economic dynamics of defense services, jury trials, streamlining the courts, selecting judges, whether prisons punish or correct, and capital punishment. References accompany each chapter, and an index is provided.