This book explores the insights that can be gained by looking at the
criminal justice system from an economic point of view. It provides an
economic analysis of the institutional structure and function of the
criminal justice system, how its policies are formulated, and how they
affect behavior. Yet it goes beyond an examination of specific policies
to address the broad question of how law influences behavior. For
example, it examines how concepts such as the possibility of redemption
affect the decisions of repeat offenders, and whether individual
responsibility is (or should be) a pre-requisite for punishment.
Finally, the book argues that, in addition to the threat of criminal
sanctions, law inculcates principles of acceptable behavior among
citizens by asserting that certain acts are "against the law." This
"expressive function" of law can influence behavior to the extent that
at least some people in society are receptive to such a message. For
these people, the moral content of law has more than mere symbolic
value, and consequently, it can expand the scope of traditional law
enforcement while lowering its cost. Another goal of the book is
therefore to use economic theory to assess this dualistic function of
law by specifically recognizing how its policies can both internalize an
ethic of obedience to the law among some people irrespective of its
consequences, while simultaneously threatening to punish those who only
respond to external incentives.
