Economic Efficiency Of Capital Punishment

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Economic Efficiency of Capital Punishment Economic analysis of law focuses on efficiency and places an emphasis on the fact that people respond to incentives. An economic assumption is that people who commit crimes are still rational and self-interested; they will weigh the expected costs against the benefits when deciding to undertake an illegal activity. The expected costs of a crime are affected by the probability of being caught, the probability of being convicted given detection, and the expected penalty that results from a conviction. Since the death penalty provides a higher cost than alternative punishments, it is expected to generate a larger deterrent effect. Why then is the effectiveness of capital punishment a controversial issue? Comparisons between Canada and the United States will provide evidence of the inefficiency of capital punishment in deterring crime, while econometric techniques will show that there is a relationship between capital punishment and crime rates. In addition, this paper will take into account the costs of having a death penalty and define the optimal amount of resources and punishment that should be used for law enforcement to minimize social cost. Budgetary Consequences of Capital Punishment To understand the costs of the death sentence, we will turn to the United States, in which a majority of the states have performed executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Proponents and opponents of the death penalty agree that a system of capital punishment should not take unnecessary risks with innocent lives, thus death penalty cases are more expensive at every step of adjudication, from longer jury selections, to more expensive prosecutions as well as post-conviction legal proceedings such as appeals to higher courts. A study done by Katherine Baicker on the short run reactions of fiscal shocks shows
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