Why Can’t Death Penalty Stop Crime?

Choi, Hak (2023): Why Can’t Death Penalty Stop Crime?

Abstract

Economists advocate penalty to raise the demand price for a crime. Then, a higher penalty should mean less crime quantity demanded, while death penalty should eliminate the whole demand. This paper uses red-light running as an example of crime, to explain why such theory fails. It fails, because red light is a setup. When it is a setup, its purpose is to capture and penalize violation, not to eliminate violation. The pursuit of penalty revenue further explains why higher penalty comes with higher crime rate. This paper concludes that people do not demand red light or crime. Instead, they demand traffic, in order to sell their bread. That is why even death penalty can’t stop crime, if selling bread or crossing road is a crime.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Crime, Traffic
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D62 - Externalities; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R4 - Transportation Economics > R41 - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion ; Travel Time ; Safety and Accidents ; Transportation Noise

References

Becker, Gary S. 1968. "Crime and Punishment an Economic Approach." Journal of Political Economy, 76, 169-217. Dreisinger, Baz. 2016. Ncarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons around the World. Other Press (NY). Tietenberg, Thomas H. 1997. Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. Harper-Collins. Walters, A. A. 1961. "The Theory and Measurement of Private and Social Cost of Highway Congestion." Econometrica, 29(4), 676-99.