1. The Economics of Crime and Justice1

2. Outline for Today: 09/22/2011 Syllabus: course details
Syllabus: Assignments by Lecture Number
Current Criminal Justice Policy Issues
Trends in California imprisonment and crime levels
Questions about crime trends and imprisonment trends
The Economics of Crime Control 2

3. 3

4. 4

6. 6

8. Current Criminal Justice Policy Issues
Early release for primary caregivers who were not convicted of violent crimes or sex crimes
Los Angeles Times front page story, p. A1, Tuesday Sept. 13, 2011 8

9. 9

10. Analysis/Questions
If less serious offenders are to be released early, why did we send them to state prison in the first place?
How do we measure the seriousness of an offense? 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. The Story Behind the Story
California state prisons are overcrowded and a federal court ordered a reduction of 30,000 prisoners by July 2013
Former Governor Arnold Schwarzeneger and former California Attorney General Jerry Brown jointly appealed
The United States Supreme Court rejected their appeal in May 2011 13

14. Current Criminal Justice Policy Issues #2
Should California prisoners be transferred to city and county jails to reduce overcrowding?
Los Angeles Times front page story, p. A1, Tuesday May 24, 2011 14

15. 15

16. Current Criminal Justice Policy Issues #3
Will California sentencing laws re-fill the state prisons if the state meets the court order and reduces the number of state prisoners by 30,000 before July 2013 ?
Los Angeles Times front page story, p. A1, Tuesday May 25, 2011 16

17. 17

18. 18

19. Have California prisons always been overcrowded?
How did the prisons become overcrowded?
Why did the prisons become overcrowded? 19

22. California State Prisoners Per Capita, 1952-2009

23. Prisoners in California
From , imprisonment rates were fairly stable
Why did imprisonment rates increase about a factor of five between 1980 and 1995?
What was happening to crime rates in the years since World War II?

24. FBI Index Crimes/Street Crimes
Violent Crimes
Homicide
Forcible rape
Robbery
Aggravated assault
Property Crimes
Burglary
Motor vehicle theft
Larceny theft

25. Report to the Nation on Crime and Justice

29. Observations
Crime is rising by a factor of four in the sixties and seventies; imprisonment is staying constant
Crime levels off in the latter seventies and eighties, imprisonment increases about a factor of five from
Crime declines beginning in 1990 and continuing through the Great Recession, ; Imprisonment levels off beginning in 1995 but does not decline

30. Questions About Crime and Imprisonment
Do these disconnected trends between crime and imprisonment make any sense?
Why did crime increase so dramatically in the fifties and sixties?
Why did crime level off in the seventies and eighties?
Why has crime declined since 1990?
Why hasn’t imprisonment declined as well?

31. Report of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

34. Question?
All this is fine and dandy. We are studying criminal justice, but how does it affect me?
Or, more to the point, how does it affect you?

35. The Eggplant That Ate Chicago

36. The Daily Beast

42. The Economics of Crime Control
Objective: minimize the sum of damages to victims and expenditures on the criminal justice system
Damages to victims = loss rate* offenses, or in symbols r*of
Expenditures on the criminal justice system, abbreviated CJS, for law enforcement, trials (district attorneys, public defenders, judges) and operating jails and prisons

43. Graphics: expenditure on CJS is easy$
45 degrees
Expenditure on criminal justice system, E on CJS, $

44. The Graphics of Crime Control, if Crime Is Controllable
Offenses, OF
OF(E)
E on CJS

45. The Graphics of Damages to Victims, if Crime Is Controllable$
r*OF(E)
E on CJS

46. The Graphics of Damages to Victims Plus Expenditures on CJS$
r*OF(E)
45 degrees
E on CJS

47. The Graphics of Total Cost, TC TC = r*OF + E
Total Cost (E) $
r*OF(E)
45 degrees
E on CJS

48. The Graphics of Total Cost, TC TC = r*OF + E
Total Cost (E) $
Economic Paradigm
Choose objective
e. g. minimize sum of
damages to victims plus
expenditures, E, on CJS
2. Describe states of the world
(options for choice)
Total cost curve (E)
3. Choose the best option
Minimum Cost
E on CJS
Optimal Expenditure

49. What Have We Learned
Even if crime is controllable, the optimal level of crime ( and damages to victims) is not zero
There comes a point where spending more on crime control, i.e. the CJS, costs more than is saved by reducing damages to victims, and this is where total costs start to rise above their minimum

50. What If Crime, Or Some Types of Crime, are Not Controllable

51. The Graphics of Crime Control, if Crime Is Uncontrollable
Offenses, OF
OF(E)
E on CJS

52. The Graphics of Damages to Victims, if Crime Is Uncontrollable$
r*OF(E)
E on CJS

53. The Graphics of Total Cost, TC TC = r*OF + E
Total Cost (E) $
Minimum Total
Cost is no
Expenditure on
CJS, E=0
r*OF(E)
45 degrees
optimum
E on CJS

54. What Did We Learn From Prohibition, 1919-1933?
The argument was: misuse or abuse of alcohol can have bad effects
Drunken husbands beat their wives
Drunken mothers mistreat their children
But the majority of people did not want to give up alcohol
Following the passage of the Volstead Act in 1919, we witnessed rum-runners, speakeasies, people making beer and bathtub gin

57. Rum Runner

59. Summary of Topics Today
Syllabus: course details
Syllabus: Assignments by Lecture Number
Current Criminal Justice Policy Issues
Trends in California imprisonment and crime levels
Questions about crime trends and imprisonment trends
Higher Education Or Prison Cells?
The Economics of Crime Control 59

60. Preview of Some Coming Topics
Deaths from:
Autos
Drugs
& Guns

62. The Impact of Crime on Society
Next Time
Social Welfare
The Impact of Crime on Society