Punishment Menus and their Deterrent Effects: An Exploratory Analysis

Gilles Grolleau (), Murat Mungan and Naoufel Mzoughi
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Gilles Grolleau: ESSCA - ESSCA – École supérieure des sciences commerciales d'Angers = ESSCA Business School, CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier
Murat Mungan: Texas A&M University System

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Abstract: Conventional wisdom suggests that allowing offenders to choose alternative punishments to a previously existing punishment cannot enhance deterrence, because offenders can simply select the least costly option available. After reviewing the deterrence research literature, we argue that punishment menus may encourage individuals to focus more on how they construe the wrongdoing and view the ethical gravity of their actions. We experimentally test whether people may perceive punishment menus as more deterrent than stand-alone sanctions available within the same menu. Our results suggest that this is possible, and that changes in people's perceptions are often mediated by the mindset (e.g., calculative, ethical) they adopt to evaluate punishment schemes as well as their impressions of the seriousness of the illegal act.

Keywords: behavioral economics; calculative mindset; ethical mindset; economics of crime; deterrence; punishment menu (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-08-27
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04670322v1
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Published in European Journal of Law and Economics, 2024, ⟨10.1007/s10657-024-09812-0⟩

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Journal Article: Punishment menus and their deterrent effects: an exploratory analysis (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04670322

DOI: 10.1007/s10657-024-09812-0

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