Visceral factors, criminal behavior and deterrence: empirical evidence and policy implications

Mojtaba Ghasemi ()
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Mojtaba Ghasemi: University of Siena

European Journal of Law and Economics, 2015, vol. 39, issue 1, No 10, 145-166

Abstract: Abstract This paper purports to consider visceral factors influences on the criminal behavior in the current literature of economics of crime and analyze the optimal and actual criminal law through Becker’s model. First, it tries to investigate the comparative responsiveness of different kinds of crime to the deterrence variables and verify the hypothesis that visceral factors are more influential on the committing of violent crimes through surveying 15 empirical studies. The result of this survey verified that violent crimes are less responsive to the deterrence variables than non-violent crimes. Relatively higher influence of visceral factors on the committing of violent crimes can be considered through lower amounts for crime supply’s punishment and probability of apprehension elasticities in the Becker’s model. Optimality in this framework implies that these crimes should be punished leniently that implicitly indicates that expected punishment doesn’t work as deterrent in this case. From a policy making point of view, because visceral factors play a strong role in committing violent crimes, severe punishment may be ineffective and preventive policies addressing the roots of violent, visceral crimes may represent a superior alternative.

Keywords: Visceral factors; Deterrence hypothesis; Law enforcement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 K14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10657-012-9357-9

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