Thesis advisor: Hideo Konishi / Becker (1968) provides a formal framework for analyzing various policies in criminal law. Within this framework there are potential criminals, who have varying benefits from committing an illegal act. They are subject to sanctions when they are caught and are found guilty for committing such acts. Accordingly, increased expected sanctions lead to greater deterrence. There are also costs associated with achieving such deterrence. Hence, there are optimal policy variables which balance costs and gains associated with increased deterrence. In my dissertation, in five independent but closely related essays, I address various issues related to criminal law by making use of optimal crime and deterrence models, which are similar to Becker (1968). First, I analyze the standard of proof in criminal trials and extend a justification as to why there are higher standards of proof in criminal trials versus civil trials. Next, I introduce the concept of mixed warning strategies, and justify the use of mixed as well as pure warning strategies in law enforcement. In a related essay, I show that it is optimal to punish repeat offenders more severely than first time offenders, provided that offenders gain experience in evading detection by committing offenses. In my fourth essay, I identify reasons as to why it is welfare improving to allow individuals to self-report conduct crimes. Finally, I propose a simple framework to incorporate the concept of remorse in the economic analysis of criminal law, and show that the Beckerian maximal fine result need not hold when some individuals feel remorse. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_101955 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Mungan, Murat Can |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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