Optimal leniency and the organization design of group crime

Giovanni Immordino, Salvatore Piccolo () and Paolo Roberti

Journal of Public Economics, 2020, vol. 191, issue C

Abstract: We study a simple law-enforcement model where the organizational structure of a criminal group is endogenous and determined jointly with the amnesty granted to whistleblowers. We allow criminals to choose between a horizontal (partnership) and a vertical (hierarchical) organization structure, and we study how this choice affects the optimal leniency granted by a benevolent Legislator whose aim is to minimize crime. We show that the optimal amnesty with an endogenous organizational choice is less lenient than that granted when the policy targets vertical organizations only. In the equilibrium, partnerships coexist with vertical organizations.

Keywords: Criminal organizations; Leniency; Organizational structure; Partnerships; Vertical hierarchies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D73 D78 K14 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:191:y:2020:i:c:s0047272720301262

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104262

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