How to Catch Capone: The Optimal Punishment of Interrelated Crimes

32 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2016 Last revised: 22 Sep 2016

See all articles by Daniel Jaqua

Daniel Jaqua

Albion College

Daniel Schaffa

University of Richmond School of Law

Date Written: September 21, 2016

Abstract

This paper characterizes optimal criminal punishments when there are multiple interrelated crimes. Optimal punishments are functions of the extent to which related crimes are complements or substitutes weighted by their relative harms to society. The available empirical evidence on the relationship between index crimes in the United States suggests that tailoring criminal punishments properly to incorporate relationships between crimes could reduce the aggregate harm to victims by 3%, or about $8 billion dollars annually, holding enforcement expenditures fixed. The actual harm reduction of a marginal increase in arrests for an index crime is on average about 1.5-3 times greater than the harm reduction calculated without these effects.

Keywords: Crime, criminal sanctions, complement and substitute crimes

JEL Classification: K14, D11

Suggested Citation

Jaqua, Daniel and Schaffa, Daniel, How to Catch Capone: The Optimal Punishment of Interrelated Crimes (September 21, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2831590 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2831590

Daniel Jaqua

Albion College ( email )

Albion, MI 49224
United States

Daniel Schaffa (Contact Author)

University of Richmond School of Law ( email )

28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, VA 23173
United States

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