Influence of a Cost-Benefit Function on the Supply of Economic Crimes: A Specific Test of the Profit Maximizing Thesis

• NCJ Number: 140679
• Journal: Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (1992) Pages: 53-67
• Author(s): J K Cochran; M B Chamlin
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 15 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data for the years 1981 to 1988 were used to examine the effects of an objective measure of the relative costs and benefits of illegal activities on the amount of economic crime, i.e., robbery, burglary, larceny, and auto theft, within Oklahoma City.

Abstract

The gains and costs of economic crime were operationalized by a cost-benefit function which is designed to consider both the total monetary gain from stolen property and the probability of avoiding apprehension. In general, the findings indicate that the level of economic crime within Oklahoma City varied directly with changes in the relative costs and benefits associated with engaging in illegal behavior. Consistent with utilitarian theory, the cost-benefit function moderately affected reported counts of robbery and burglary and substantially affected reported counts of auto theft. In contrast to initial predictions, the cost-benefit function had no significant effect on the level of larceny-theft. The findings raise the question as to why effects of the cost-benefit function differ across categories of economic crime. 7 footnotes, 2 tables, and 30 references