NCJ Number
73676
Journal
CHITTY'S LAW JOURNAL Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Dated: (1978) Pages: 9-17
Date Published
1978
Length
9 pages
Annotation
A review of the economic implications of crime and crime reduction concludes that only an improvement in the United States economy at all levels can significantly reduce crime.
Abstract
The criminal justice system operates under the painful dilemma that levels of law enforcement above a certain point will abridge the physical and economic freedoms of innocent persons. Therefore, society must accept but seek to control some degree of illegal activity by its members. Several empirical studies have demonstrated that individuals will allocate their time between legal and illegal activities so as to maximize expected utitity. Thus, societies can encourage legal behavior by giving it a higher value and more monetary rewards than illegal conduct. These theories suggest that economic factors are directly related to the rate of crime and are supported by research which has documented correlations among crime, poverty, and unemployment. The urbanization of America and impending economic deprivation stemming from resource scarcities both tend to decrease the expected value from involvement in legal activity and increase the anticipated benefits from illegal activities. The critical element in offsetting this trend appears to be an increase in the probability of detection and conviction, rather than more severe sanctions. However, a preferable alternative would be to increase the expected value from involvement in legal activity. Because this is unlikely in the short term, governments have undertaken a temporary appeasement policy of social welfare. The criminal justice system has reduced the costs of crime suppression by increasing its efficiency through focusing on activities with the highest return ratio. In particular, restitution programs have been cited as cost effective since they reduce incarcerations and reimburse victims. However, a statistical model suggests that at some point release of defendants on restitution sentences will cost society more in terms of new crimes perpetuated than it would to incarcerate after the initial sentence. The American economy as a whole must avoid the impending limited growth roadblock, or the economic costs and loss of physical freedom from crime perpetration and suppression will continue to increase. Graphs and 22 references are included. (Author abstract modified)