Some reflections on the economics of prosecutors: Mandatory vs. selective prosecution

Nuno Garoupa

International Review of Law and Economics, 2009, vol. 29, issue 1, 25-28

Abstract: Mandatory prosecution is inefficient according to legal economists. We argue that when prosecutors are fairly insulated from their performance or are highly risk-averse mandatory prosecution is better than selective prosecution. This result has important implications for comparative law. We use our findings to provide a positive explanation for the stylized fact that mandatory prosecution generally prevails in civil law jurisdictions whereas selective prosecution is typical of common law jurisdictions.

Keywords: Prosecutors; Mandatory; prosecution; Selective; prosecution; Civil; law; Common; law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Working Paper: Some reflections on the economics of prosecutors: Mandatory v selective prosecution (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:29:y:2009:i:1:p:25-28

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